Everything About You
by AllieAlexMarie
Summary: When a teenage American singer's enlisted to go on tour with One Direction, she's pulled into a mess of friendships, relationships, and, erm, birthday presents?
1. The Call

No, I wouldn't call myself a fan. I'd say I was a Directioner at first sight. Sure, I hadn't met them when they fist auditioned for X Factor but I was just as much in love with them as the next Directioner. Ok, maybe I wasn't in love with them, but they were still pretty good. However, I guess I wasn't expecting it when their manager suggested we tour together. Yeah, I wasn't expecting that.

Let's rewind back to six months ago.

* * *

><p>I was sixteen. When I think about it, it was probably around the same time One Direction was on X Factor. Ok, let me introduce you to one of my best friends, Ashley.<p>

"Please? Pleaaaase?" I begged Ashley until she finally let out a reluctant "Fine."

I had grinned and started packing as soon as the word escaped her lips.

My best friend and I were going to audition for American Idol.

"You nervous?" I asked her as we finally reached the building where the auditions were being held.

"Not really." she answered calmly.

"Are you?" she asked me.

"A bit." I lied. My whole body was shaking.

"You'll be fine." she said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

The rest of the day was a blur.

I remember Ashley went in and walked back out, shaking her head and grinning as if she had expected she wasn't going to make it. I remember going into the judge's room and singing Misery by Maroon 5.

The words "Congratulations, you're going to Hollywood." reached my ears and the next moment I was running out the door and jumping up and down with Ashley while tears rolled down my face.

I didn't think I'd make it past the first round. I definitely didn't think I'd get to the finals. The biggest surprise though was when I won. That part I remember. I just stood there on the stage sobbing and saying thank you about a million times.

* * *

><p>Yes, I'm Alex Barren. I won America Idol and got a recording deal. I didn't think I'd be able to do it and I often wonder if it was all a dream. But this obviously wasn't a dream.<p>

"Hello?" I said into my phone.

"Hey Alex!" my manager, Joy, chirped.

"Hey Joy." I said as I took a sip of the Starbucks coffee I was holding.

"You know about One Direction, right?" she asked. A few girls pointed at me and whispered as I walked by them.

"Yeah. Do they want to do an interview or something?" I asked, already wondering what I'd wear.

Joy laughed through the phone. "No. They don't want to do an interview with you. They want to go on tour with you." she said as I took another sip of my drink.

I almost spit the luke-warm espresso on the couple that walked by.

"What?" I said trying to choke back the coffee that was threatening to come back up.

"You heard me." I could practically hear her grinning through the phone.

"Oh, boy." I sighed.

"I think you mean 'Oh, boys.' '' she giggled. I rolled my eyes and tried to calm my churning stomach.

I drove back to the house that I shared with Ashley in L.A.

"Did you know you might be going on tour with One Direction?" she asked, eyes glued to her iPhone.

"How did you know about this before me?" I asked her, my mouth slightly ajar.

"There's an article about it on Sugarscape." she said, patting the seat on the couch next to her.

I plopped down on the couch. "Were you searching me again?" I asked her, raising my eyebrows.

"No. Ok, yes." she confessed.

I rolled my eyes and grinned.

"C'mon, I just want to make sure no one's talking bad about my best friend." she grinned and punched me playfully in the arm.

"Oh, please. You just want to make sure that you're the first to know if I have a crush on some actor guy." I laugh.

"Do you?" she asked, dead serious.

"No, I was just using it as an exam-" she cuts me off.

"Oh my gosh, who is it? You have to tell me." she exclaims, her smile broadening.

"I'm serious, I don't like anyone. Cross my heart." I said.

"Gosh, you're no fun." Ashley sighed and continued scrolling through her phone.

"So?" she said a few moments later.

"So, what?" I asked her.

"So, _are _you going on tour with One Direction." Ashley asked me, turning to face me.

"Well.." I said, contemplating.

"Well? Alex, you've been a huge fan for the last two years." she grinned.

"Plus," she said, holding her index finger up, "That means you'd be going on tour with five of the hottest guys in the world."

"You only want me to do this because you have a huge crush on Zayn." I laughed.

Ashley's already pink cheeks turned an even rosier shade.

"Well.." she murmured.

"Well, yes." I sighed. "I'd love to go on tour with them." I grin.

Her eyes flicked up to mine and we jumped up and did a little happy-jumpy dance.

"Well, don't waste another minute." she said grabbing my purse and rummaging through it till she found my phone. "Call Joy. Now." she said, smiling and holding my phone out to me.

I dialed Joy's number and on the third ring she picked up.

"Hey, Alex." her peppiness blanketed every word.

"Hey Joy." I smile. "I'd like to take you up on that offer."


	2. Pizza And Best Friends

A mixture of panic and excitement bubbled up inside as I shifted in the comfortable passenger seat of Joy's cherry-red Saturn.

"Chill out," Joy laughed as she noticed that I was trying to calm myself by playing a drum solo on her dashboard.

"I can't." I sighed.

"Yes, you can." she glared at me momentarily, causing me to cut off my drum solo.

"Listen to some music." she said and clicked on her iPod dock.

What Makes You Beautiful blasted through the speakers.

"Sorry," she half-frowned, moving her hand toward the off switch.

"It's fine. Leave it on." I said.

As paranoid as I was about One Direction, listening to their music really comforted me and put me in a much better mood.

I was singing along to Up All Night when we finally reached the nicely-furnished apartment.

"Oh gosh." I whispered.

"No one can resist your charm, don't worry." Joy grinned.

I rolled my eyes and tugged on my tan ruffled blouse as I stepped out of the car an slowly made my way to the door, Joy following behind me.

I was about to knock when the door popped open and Liam appeared.

"Hello!" he smiled and gave a friendly wave.

"Hi," I smiled shyly.

"Louis, stop tickling me there!"

"Sorry, that's just-" Liam started.

"Hello!" Harry beamed, racing up behind Liam.

"Come on in." Liam said an the two stepped aside.

I walked inside, with Joy shadowing my every footstep.

"Just make a right at the end of this hallway." Liam said.

I did as he said and walked in upon a large, open room.

Tall windows lined the walls, letting in all the sunlight.

Harry ran ahead and jumped onto the couch that sat in the middle of the room.

"I saved you a spot right here." Harry patted the seat next to him and gave me a flirty grin.

I looked at Joy who, at age 25, was eight years older than me and much like an older sister.

She raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

I laughed and sat down next to the curly haired boy.

"Now, Alex, you can either go to lunch with me and their manager," Joy offered.

"Or you can chill with us here." Harry chimed in.

"Um…" I thought out loud.

"You should stay here." Harry grinned again.

"Maybe it'll give you a chance to get to know everyone." Joy added.

"Ok," I shrugged my shoulders.

"So," Harry said, trying to inch his arm around my shoulder.

"So," I stood up before Harry could get too comfortable. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Go down this hallway and make a left two doors down." Liam pointed.

"Great, thanks." I smiled and followed his directions.

I went into the bathroom and closed the door.

I smoothed my shoulder length brown ringlets and put on a bit more of my vanilla cupcake chapstick.

The lime green cardigan that I wore over my blouse fell down my back, overlapping with my dark wash skinny jeans.

I opened the door and took a step out, but then collided with someone.

"Sorry," we said in unison.

I laughed and stared at the blonde haired boy who stood there grinning at me.

"Go ahead." I smiled, my shyness returning.

"No, ladies first." he smiled back.

I faked a curtsy and walked back into the room where Harry and Liam sat.

"See you've met Niall." Liam said.

I nodded and sat down on the empty couch closest to the windows.

Niall sat down in my old seat, next to Harry.

"Do we have company?" a voice sang in the hallway.

Louis bounded into the room and somehow managed to squish himself in between Niall and Harry.

"You must be Alex." Louis grinned.

"Yeah, that's me." I laughed.

"So, have they scared you off yet?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in Harry's direction.

"Not completely." I smiled.

"Hey, where's.." Niall started.

"Zayn?" Harry finished.

I stifled back a giggle at how in tune they were with each other.

"Not sure." Louis said. "I think he's visiting a friend in San Diego."

"So, do you want something to eat?" Liam asked.

"What do you have?" I inquired.

"Food." Niall grinned.

I raised my eyebrows. "Really? I never would have guessed." I grinned.

He smiled back and got up off the couch. "We could just order a pizza or something." he suggested.

Everyone seemed to like that idea so they called up a place nearby and placed an order.

"So, where are you from?" Harry asked.

"Baltimore." I answered.

They all nodded there heads but I knew they'd probably never heard of it.

"It's this city in Maryland, by the harbor. I love it." I smile, wondering when I'd get to visit again.

"Oh, isn't there a football team from there? The Baltimore.."

"Ravens." I say, finishing Liam's sentence.

"Right." he nodded.

Just then the doorbell rang and Niall jumped up. As soon as he got up Louis lay down on the couch and rested his feet on Harry's lap.

I half-smiled but kept my mouth shut.

Niall walked back in with two boxes of pizza.

He sort of looked at Louis for a few seconds and then shook his head and sat down next to me.

"Um," I said, pushing a piece of hair behind my ear, "Don't we need plates?"

Niall and Louis were already picking up pieces of pizza but turned to look at me before taking a bite.

"Plates are for wimps." Harry said, dead serious.

I laughed and picked up a piece of pizza and ate in less than a minute.

Everyone sort of stared at me as I reached for another piece of pizza. "I didn't have any breakfast," I giggled.

As I finished my second piece of pizza my phone went off.

I pulled the green-covered iPhone4 out of my pocket and looked at the caller id.

"Do you mind if I take this?" I ask hesitantly.

Liam, Niall, and Louis shook their heads but before I could press the answer button Harry jumped off the couch and grabbed it out of my hand.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Oh gosh," I buried my face in my hands and laughed.

"She's eating pizza." Harry said calmly.

I sat, silent, trying my best to give Harry a threatening stare.

He just grinned and continued to talk on my phone.

"So, who are you?" he asked.

"But she's my best friend." Harry said coolly.

He pretended to look upset and handed my phone over. "We're not best friends anymore." he said.

"I'm heartbroken," I said, grinning.

"Hey," I said into the phone.

"Was that..?" my other best friend, Lindsey asked, still in awe.

"Yes," I laughed. "Apparently we're not best friends anymore, even though I just met him about thirty minutes ago." I grinned.

"What's going on? Are you hanging out with One Direction?" she asked excitedly.

"Well, we're just eating pizza. So, yes." I said, laughing at how stupid I sounded.

"Well, I called because Ashley texted me saying that you might be going on tour with One Direction." she said.

"That's what we're all hoping for." I sigh and smile.

"So, you're still in L.A.?" she asks.

"Yes, when are you planning on visiting?" I ask her as I grab a third slice.

"Soon. Especially if you're going to be all buddy-buddy with One Direction." she says, and I can tell she's grinning.

"Good." I grin.

"Well, I guess I'll let you get back to pizza with your new best friends." she said.

"Gee, thanks. I'll text you later." I tell her.

"K, bye." she says, and we both hang up.

"She seemed surprised you were with us." Harry commented after I hung up.

"She probably was." I shrug my shoulders.

My text ringtone, One Thing, starts going off and everyone turns to me and grins.

"Surprised I'm a fan?" I say, but no one answers, they just grin and laugh.

"Who is it?" Niall asks, leaning over my shoulder.

"Lindsey." I scrunch up my eyebrows. "She's flying down this Friday." I break out into a grin.

"We should all go out to dinner." Louis suggests.

"That sounds fun." I nod thoughtfully.

"Do you mind if I invite one more person?" I ask them.

"A boyfriend?" Niall asks, smirking.

"No, my other best friend, Ashley." I smile and blush a little bit.

"So, I'm the third best friend, am I?" Harry scoffs.

"Actually fourth. Brianna, Ashley, and Lindsey, my three best friends." I giggle.

He narrows his eyes and shakes his head.

I hold in a laugh and roll my eyes.

After another twenty minutes of laughter and stupid jokes, Joy's back, ready to take me to a photo shoot or interview or something.

I exchange numbers with everyone, smile and wave, and leave with confidence I definitely didn't have when I got there.


	3. A Little Chat

I wave as Joy drives away.

I pull my keys out of the bottomless pit I call my purse and open the door to our house.

Exhausted, I collapse on the couch that sits in our living room.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, Ashley's shaking my shoulders, trying to wake me.

"How'd it go?" Ashley smiled at me.

"Pretty good." I admit.

"Only good?" she asks, still beaming.

I laugh and shrug my shoulders in response.

"Was Zayn there?" she asks excitedly.

"No, he was visiting someone in San Diego." I tell her.

"Someone…? Like a girl someone?" she asks, half-frowning.

"I don't know. They didn't know." I answer honestly.

"Can you find out?" she asks, batting her eyelashes at me.

I sigh and nod as I reach for my phone.

_Hey Harry! Who was Zayn visiting?_ I send.

"I'm going to get something at that café next door. Wanna come?" I ask Ashley as I slip on a hoodie.

She nods and grabs her clutch.

A few moments later my phone vibrates.

_One of his cousins. Why, you have a crush on him?_

I laugh at how absurd that idea was.

_No haha :) One of my friends has a thing for him and wanted me to snoop for her._

I click send.

"It was just his cousin." I say as I lock the door to our house.

"Oh," Ashley says, trying to conceal a smile as she makes her way down the steps and onto the sidewalk.

We make out way down the path that lined the side of the road as the sun's final rays illuminated our faces.

We rounded the corner and I gently pushed the cafés door open.

As we approached the counter my phone buzzed again.

"Peppermint mocha, no whip cream." I smile at the redheaded girl who looked about my age.

I laid a twenty-dollar bill down and after I got my change, Ashley and I sat down in our favorite booth.

I pulled my phone out of my back pocket, expecting it to be Harry.

But it wasn't Harry, it was Niall.

_Should I bring a copy of Up All Night on Friday ;)_

I half-smiled to myself.

"Who you texting?" Ashley asked, as she took a sip of her smores hot chocolate.

"Uh, Niall." I say.

_Nope. Already have a copy ;)_

I send the text and remember buying the album yesterday, March 9th, when it came out in the US.

"Hey, you're not doing anything this Friday are you?" I ask Ashley.

She shakes her head. "No, why?"

"Well, Lindsey's flying down and Louis said we should all go to dinner together." I reply.

"Sounds cool." She shrugs.

"Oh please," I roll my eyes. "I know you're just dying to meet Zayn."

She just rolls her eyes back. Typical Ashley.

"You've got two days to pick out what you're going to wear." I grin. "And do you want to pick up Lindsey with me?"

She crinkles her nose. "I have classes until four, but when I get home let's all do each others hair."

I nodded, figuring Lindsey must have texted Ashley the time of her flight too.

We talked for a bit longer about her classes, and new movies, and guys until we'd both finished our drinks.

"Let's head out." I say, taking the last sip of my peppermint mocha.

Ashley nodded and we strolled back to our house.

My phone rang as I was trying to find ym keys.

"Can you get that?" I ask Ashley.

She grabs my phone and hits the answer button.

"Hello?"

"Do I sound like Alex?" she asks into the phone.

I finally find my stupid keys.

"Then I'm probably not her." She says.

The door swings open.

"Hey, be nice." I scold her, smiling.

"Yes, that's her." Ashley says.

"Do they want to talk to me?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I guess you can talk to her." Ashley sighs and hands me the phone.

"Hello?" I say.

"Um, hello." A foreign accent says.

"Hi Harry." I laugh.

"I'm guessing that's Ashley." I can almost see him raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, the one and only." I grinned at my best friend who was searching through our dvd collection.

"Well," he began "Louis, knock it off! Niall, you stop too," there was a rustle and then someone else started talking.

"Hello Alex!" Louis practically screamed.

"Hey!" Niall added.

"Hi," I couldn't help but giggle.

"We're sitting on Harry so we'll make this quick," Louis says.

I smile and sit down on the couch.

"We'll know tomorrow if we're going on tour." Louis explains.

I nodded "Ok."

"So what are you doing?" Niall asks.

"Um, about to watch a movie with Ashley. How bout you guys?"

"Still sitting on Harry." Louis replied.

"Help." Harry mumbled.

"Sounds fun." I laugh.

"Yeah!" Louis and Niall say in unison.

"Well, I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Later." I say.

A chorus of "Bye" rings out and then I hang up.

"Bridesmaids?" Ashley asks, holding up the movie.

I nod and she presses play.

We both head to bead after we finish watching the movie.

I switch into pajamas, crawl into bed, and fall asleep in minutes.

* * *

><p><strong>Ello loves :) Thanks to the few of you who have been keeping up with this story :) I'd love a review if you have the time, and please please please let me know if I should continue it cause I'm having a blast writing it :) Ok, that's all. A couple new chapters up over Spring break? I think yesss :D<strong>

**-Alex**


	4. Laughing And More Laughing?

My alarm started going off at 7:30.

I rubbed my eyes sleepily and got a shower.

I combed through my wet hair and doused it with hair spray to make sure my natural curls didn't get too frizzy.

I applied the only makeup I wore, blush, and put on my clothes, skinny jeans, a light gray camisole, and a robin-egg blue v-neck t-shirt.

Since I didn't have any interviews in the morning, I decided to spend it studying with Ashley who got up about ten minutes after I did.

"Ok," I say reclining in our neon green beanbag.

"Shakespeare or Homer first?" I ask as she sits down on the pink beanbag opposite mine.

"Shakespeare."

"Romeo, oh Romeo, where art thou?" I giggle and tug at a paper in her notebook.

For a second, as I scanned the sheet of questions, it sounded as if someone was playing the first few chords of One Thing.

"Do you hear that?" I asked Ashley.

"What?"

"Never mind." I shook my head and tried to concentrate on the questions.

"What do you think inspired Shakespeare to write Macbeth?" I asked her, trying my hardest not to focus on One Thing, which was ringing in my ears.

She opened her mouth to answer but I held up a finger.

"Wait, I definitely hear it now." I said and stood up.

I drift around the room till I can hear it really well.

"Frozen and can't breathe."

I stood at the window, frozen myself, but then I pulled it open and stared down at the sidewalk, slightly amazed.

Five boys stared back up at me, their mouths open and singing the chorus of One Thing.

I turned around, grabbed Ashley's wrist and scrambled downstairs.

I yanked open the door.

"That I'm going out of my mind, all day and all night."

I grinned, my heart melting into a sloppy, pink puddle.

They continued through the rest of the song while Ashley and I stood there watching in awe.

"We're going on tour together." Harry cried out as Niall plucked the last few chords of One Thing on his guitar.

There was a lot of screaming and shouts of "Yeah buddy!" and "Wooooo!"

Ashley looked me straight in the eyes and we both started laughing.

Once we had settled down Louis said "So, what are you girls doing inside on such a lovely day?"

I looked up. The sky was overcast and it looked as if it would rain any moment, which was unusual for L.A.

"Studying." Ashley answered.

"Want to take a snack break?" Niall asked, leaning back on his heels.

I looked at Ashley. A half-smile crept up onto her face.

"Sure." I grinned.

"There's this nice café right there." I pointed at the corner of our street.

"Give us, like, two seconds." Ashley said.

We both sprinted up the steps.

I rolled my strawberry chapstick over my lips and then tossed it in my bag, which hung loosely on my wrist.

Ashley, looking perfect in her pink hoodie and light-wash skinny jeans, grabbed her purse and patted down her perfect dark-brown, almost-black waves and shuffled back downstairs.

After slipping on my brown flip-flops I followed.

Ashley was already on her way down the sidewalk with Zayn to her left and Louis to the right.

"When did you guys find out about the tour?" I addressed Harry, Niall, and Liam as I made my way onto the sidewalk.

"Last night." Liam said. "At about 11:30."

I nodded.

"How long have you known Ashley?" Niall asked.

"Fifteen years." I beamed.

"And you're how old?" Harry asked, looking a bit shocked.

"Seventeen." I giggle. "And you're all eighteen, right?"

The three boys nodded.

A few moments of silence went by.

"So are you both in school here?" Liam asked.

"Only Ashley." I reply. "I go to cyber school."

"I'll be graduating a month earlier than Ashley. I like to rub that in her face a good bit." I said as we arrived at the café.

The three boys chuckled as we walked inside.

"What's good here?" Niall asked, squinting to see the menu.

"Everything." I shrugged. "Unless you're picky."

"Niall? A picky eater? Hardly." Zayn jumped in.

I grinned and ordered an iced tea and a doughnut.

"Our booth?" I asked Ashley as I picked up my doughnut.

She nodded, wondering the same thing I was.

How were we going to fit seven people in a three-person booth?

"Where are we sitting?" Louis asked.

Ashley pointed him to our booth and he and Zayn sat down on opposite sides of each other.

Ashley slowly walked over and Zayn patted the seat next to him.

She gingerly sat down but I noticed the sparkle in her eyes.

"Boo bear," Louis called out. "Come sit next to me."

Harry strolled over to our booth and sat down next to Louis.

I raised my eyebrows but said nothing.

Liam, Niall, and I made our way to the table.

I eyed the situation hesitantly.

Liam sat next to Ashley while Niall and I stared at the seat next to Harry.

There was no way we'd both fit.

"Harry, why don't you sit in my lap." Louis said.

I thought he was joking but Harry didn't object, he simply slid into Louis's outstretched arms.

Niall sat down, placing his obnoxiously large plate of food on the table, and I slid in beside him.

About five minutes later Harry managed to worm his way off Louis's lap and in between Louis and Niall.

It was okay at first. I was sitting half on the seat and half off, but then Harry jumped u, pretending to yell at Zayn.

This action sent Niall to bump into me and I would have had a rather unfortunate meeting with the ground but Niall grabbed my waist and managed to prevent that.

I sat back up and Niall pulled his hands back.

"Didn't know this was a hands-on museum." Harry mumbled, sitting back down.

Everyone sort of laughed at this.

"Sorry," Niall said sheepishly, his cheeks a bit pink.

"It's fine. Thanks." I smiled shyly and brushed a few strands of hair out of my face, knowing my cheeks were even pinker than his.

"Niall said you go the CD." Liam said, breaking the awkwardness.

I was tempted to glare at Niall but I didn't.

"Yeah," I answered.

"What's your favorite song?" Louis asked.

"Everything About You and One Thing." I admitted.

"What are we talking about?" Ashley asked as I took a sip of my iced tea.

"Our album." Harry replied.

"Oh." was the only thing she said.

"Have you hear it?" Niall asked.

"Only a million times. Alex listens to it on repeat." she rolled her eyes and shot me a grin.

Niall looked at me, smiling, and the rest turned to follow.

"Oh, shut it." I laugh.

"Have you heard any of Alex's songs?" Ashley asked.

Everyone nodded.

"They're really good. Niall had Music as his ring tone for, like, three weeks." Harry said, grinning at Niall.

Niall elbowed Harry, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Well, well, well." I laughed. "I guess we're even then." I said remembering the previous day when One Thing played when Lindsey had texted me.

Niall shrugged and half-smiled. "I guess so."

I rolled my eyes and ripped a piece of my doughnut off.

"So when does the tour start?" Ashley asked as I ate the chewy piece of doughnut.

I leaned in a bit, waiting for the answer.

"27th of March." Zayn answered.

I nodded and ate more of the doughnut.

"You should come too." I said to Ashley.

"I wish." she rolled her eyes and took a bite of the cookie she was eating.

"Come on." I pleaded.

"I won't have time. Maybe in June." she said.

I sighed and narrowed my eyes at her. "Fine."

I finished off the rest of my doughnut as everyone else talked about the pranks they'd play on each other.

"Yeah, and we can even prank Alex." Harry winked at me.

"Don't bet on it." I said.

"Alex's pretty good at pulling pranks." Ashley said seriously. "And getting revenge."

I laughed and nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you." I said, sipping at my iced tea.

"Well, you're not us." Louis said rather bluntly.

"Thank goodness for that." I smirked.

He made a face back at me and I tried to not laugh.

"Are you guys going to go to college?" Ashley asked.

"Well…" Harry said.

"You know," Louis made a hand gesture.

"Eventually."

"Probably."

"Um,"

Ashley and I looked at each other and giggled.

"What about you?" Zayn asked each other.

She nodded. "I'm not sure where, but I'm looking."

"And you?" Niall asked me, leaning his chin in his hand.

"Uh, well.." I said. "I'd like to go to Julliard."

My eyes shifted to the floor and then back up to the table.

"You'd get in." Harry said and Liam and Niall nodded.

"Maybe." I shrugged.

It wnet sort of quiet, but Ashley broke it by telling a story.

"Alex, you remember that time we decided to ride down your steps in a laundry basket?" she said wistfully.

"And we dressed you up in a life vest," I grinned.

"And shin guards." she laughed.

I laughed too, remembering the photo my mom had taken.

"And you were wearing a rain poncho and everything, but then we chickened out." I said, starting to laugh even harder.

Liam was the first of the boys to laugh.

And then Niall.

Then Harry, Louis, and Zayn.

I had buried my face in my arms and was laughing so had that tears were streaming down my face.

I looked up at Ashley and saw she also was crying from laughing.

This made us laugh more.

This made Niall laugh more.

Niall laughing harder made Harry laugh harder, which made Louis laugh more, along with Liam and Zayn.

It was a vicious cycle and about two minutes later my jaw and stomach hurt so much that I finally stopped laughing.

I wiped away the tears that were drying on my face and let a small grin show.

"Oh my gosh." Ashley wiped her thumbs under her eyes too, while Zayn leaned his ehad on her shoulder, still laughing.

"We should probably do a bit more studying." Ashley said.

I nodded "Yeah, probably."

I slid out of the booth and looped my purse around my shoulder.

Ashley, Liam, and Zayn were already headed for the door as I threw away my cup and napkin.

I started humming Stand Up without knowing it as we walked out.

"So put your hands." Harry sang.

"Cause it's a stand up." Niall and Louis sang together.

I grinned and shook my head.

"So, where were you guys thinking for dinner tomorrow?" I asked, peeking at my phone.

"This place. What's it called Harry?" Louis said.

"I don't know." Harry shrugged. "We'll text you the address."

"Alright." I said.

"When does your friend get here?" Harry asked.

"Her flight arrives at about two." I replied.

"What's she like?" Harry asked.

"Um, a bit nerdy. That's probably one of the reasons we're friends. She's a bit shy at first, but really bubbly once you start talking to her." I answered.

"Is she funny?" he inquired.

"Very."

We had reached the apartment door, where Ashley, Liam, and Zayn stood laughing.

"So, I'll talk to you guys tomorrow then." I said, spinning on my heel to face Louis, Niall, and Harry.

"Alright love. Have fun studying." Louis smiled.

"Bye." Harry and Niall shouted at the same time.

I grinned at the two of them and then gave a little wave.

I walked up the steps and grabbed Ashley's wrist.

"Later!" she said to Zayn and Liam, a bit surprised.

I grinned again and pulled her inside the apartment.

As soon as I closed the door I raised my eyebrows at her.

She raised hers back and we both let out a tiny squeal, quiet enough that the guys wouldn't hear.

We had a hard time studying after that.

"You got a thing for Alex?" Harry nudged my shoulder as we walked to his car.

"No." I answered calmly.

"Well, you didn't hesitate to grab her waist earlier." he grinned slyly.

"You bumped me into her. You probably did it on purpose." I said half-smiling at Harry.

"Whatever." he shrugged.

"I think Zayn fancies her friend, Ashley." I mentioned to Harry.

He nodded. "I think so as well, my good friend." Harry said, unlocking his door.

I got in and we waited as Louis, Zayn, and Liam caught up.

"Louis, look up that restaurant on your phone." Harry said as he drove down the road.

Louis groaned. "I don't want to. Niall, you do it."

I sighed but looked up the restaurant.

"John's Place?" I ask.

"Yeah, that's it!" Louis cried out.

"K," I copied the address and texted it to Alex.

A few moments she texted back.

_Casual or formal?_

"Casual or formal?" I asked the boys.

"Casual." everyone answered.

_Casual (:_ I texted back.

_Thank God :)_ she replied.

I grinned and slid the phone into my jacket pocket.


	5. Airports And Hangman

"Rise and shine!" I screamed as I passed Ashley's room on Friday morning.

A reply of "Uggh." echoed through the hallway.

I grinned and skipped down the steps.

My hair had been straightened, I'd gotten a good nights sleep, and I was ready to go to my first and only interview of the day.

"Later!" I screamed to Ashley as I grabbed my keys.

I closed the apartment door and headed out to Joy's car.

"Hey." I beamed.

"Hi." she smiled back, her usual perky self.

We chatted about upcoming events on our way to the interview site.

She dropped me off at the interview site, where the silver-haired interviewer waved me down.

"I'm Stacy." she shook my hand and gave me a genuine smile.

"Hi," I replied.

We both ordered iced coffees and sat down in a booth beside a window, which gave view to the busy street.

She asked me a few questions about American Idol and my upcoming album.

"We've heard rumors that you're going on tour with One Direction. Is that true?" she asked, her hand hovering over her notepad.

I nodded. "Yes, that's true."

"And have you met the boys yet?" she asked.

"Yeah, earlier this week, actually." I replied smiling.

"How would you describe the boys from One Direction?"

"Oh, they're al really sweet. Very funny." I grinned.

"Do you have a favorite yet?" she asked smiling.

"Oh, no." I shook my head and laughed.

"We'll have to ask you again once you've been on tour for a little while." she winked and grinned.

I just laughed.

We talked a bit more about the tour and then she closed the cover of her notepad.

"It's been great talking to you." she beamed.

The girl was so genuinely nice that I couldn't help smiling back.

"And you. Be sure to snag me for another interview before the tour ends." I said honestly.

She promised she would and smiled at me once more before leaving.

_Are you up yet?_

I clicked send as Joy pulled up outside.

I skipped outside and received a reply from Ashley moments later.

_Yeah. In Biology, silly. Gtg._

I rolled my eyes as I opened the car door.

"How was the interview?" Joy asked as I buckled my seat belt.

"Great." I smiled at her.

"Good."

I'm pretty sure if Joy wasn't such a fantastic, upbeat manager, I would have crashed a long time ago.

"Nothing else today right?" I asked, scrolling through my contacts.

"Nope," she said. "Easy day."

I nodded and grinned.

"When does your friend get here?" Joy asked as she turned onto my street.

I looked at my watch. "In an hour."

"Well, have a lovely time. I'll call you tomorrow." she smiled as she pulled up to the curb.

"Thanks! Bye!" I hopped out of the car and went inside.

I was looking up taxi numbers when my phone vibrated.

_Hello :)_

I smiled at the familiar number. I texted Niall back.

_Ello (: What's up?_

I got a reply back almost immediately.

_Driving with Harry._

_Where to?_ I texted back.

I continued searching for taxi numbers.

_No where. Just in circles ;) Hbu?_

I giggled and typed a reply.

_Looking for a taxi to take me to the airport ;P_

I had lost my place in the old, dusty phone directory but my cell went off again.

_We can pick you up and take you_

I sighed. Why did they have to be so sweet?

I dialed Niall's number.

"Hello?" he picked up.

"Um, hi." I said.

"Hey." he said.

"Listen, you don't have to take me to the airport." I said as I searched my bag for chapstick.

"It's fine." he said.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

I hated being a nuisance but something told me they were doing this because they were just nice.

"Positive."

"Fine."

"We'll be there in, uh, about ten minutes." he said, then hung up.

I half-smiled as I put my phone in my bag. I didn't know them that well, but they boys were turning out to be the sweetest people.

It took the whole ten minutes to find my chapstick.

"Gotcha." I pulled it out of my hoodie pocket as I heard a car horn honk outside.

I grabbed my keys and ran outside.

"Hi." I smiled as I got into the car.

"Hey." Harry and Niall said at the same time.

I'm afraid we would have gotten terribly lost if it wasn't for Harry's GPS, because neither the two boys nor I knew L.A. very well.

"No, no. Stop here." I said as we nearly scraped the curb.

"Ok, wait here." I grinned as I got out of the car.

_I'm outside_ I texted Lindsey. _Near B4_ I added.

I scanned the crowd a few times.

"Looking for someone?"

I spun around.

"Hey!" I shrieked and gave her a bear hug.

"You ready to go?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"Great." I smiled and led her to the car.

"Who drove you?" she asked cautiously.

"A new friend." I grinned.

"Hello!" Harry and Niall said in unison again, getting out of the car.

I laughed at the expression on Lindsey's face.

"You're…." she got out.

"Niall. And I'm Harry." He brushed his hair out of his face and shook Lindsey's hand.

Lindsey just stood there in awe, shaking his hand.

"This is Lindsey obviously." I laughed.

"Perhaps we should put your bag in the car." Niall suggested.

"Yeah, before you two drown in each others eyes." I smirked.

Harry and Lindsey gave me nasty glares but Niall chuckled as he dragged Lindsey's bag into the trunk of the car.

"Should we get going then?" I said, rocking back and forth on my heels.

"You're walking home after that remark." Harry said as he got into the driver's seat.

I grinned and got in the back of the car.

"Why didn't you tell me they were driving you?" Lindsey whispered as she slid into the seat next to me.

"I didn't know myself until about an hour ago." I whispered back.

"I look like a wreck," she muttered.

"You do not."

She really didn't. Lindsey had really light blue eyes with a few golden flecks through them. Perfectly applied eyeliner and mascara framed her eyes. She had a nice, comforting smile and shoulder-length auburn hair that was naturally straight. She wore skinny jeans and a simple purple shirt with a white camisole underneath.

"Are you a fan?" Niall leaned back from the passenger seat.

"Oh, yeah." she smiled, loosening up a bit. "Alex called me as soon as the CD was released her."

Niall shot me a quick grin after this statement but turned back to Lindsey.

"Do you have a favorite song?" he asked her.

"I like Stole My Heart a lot." she shrugged.

He nodded and turned back around.

"Did I tell you we're going to dinner tonight?" I asked.

"Who? You, Ashley, and I?" she asked back.

I nodded slowly. "Yes.."

"And those two," I pointed to Harry and Niall. "And Zayn, Louis, and Liam."

Her eyes widened a bit. "Oh."

"Yeah. Ashley gets back from school at four." I said.

She nodded. "Ok."

"Wait." I thought a second. "When are we meeting there? You didn't text me that." I raised an eyebrow at Niall.

"Six?" he asked more than said.

"Sounds good." Harry said.

I looked at Lindsey. She shrugged in response.

"Sure." I said.

We sat quietly for another five minutes and then pulled up to my apartment.

"Well, thanks for the ride." I smiled gratefully.

"See you in about three hours." Lindsey said as we walked up the steps to my door.

They gave a quick "Bye!'' then were off.

I opened the door to my apartment and walked inside.

"I can't believed you forgot to tell me that we're going to dinner with One Direction." she said as she dropped her bag on the floor.

"Sorry. It sort of slipped my mind." I said, a bit of guilt washing over me.

I sat down on the couch and closed my eyes.

"Uh, no." Lindsey's hands locked around my wrists. "We have to find something to wear."

We walked to my room and Lindsey dumped the contents of her bag onto my bed.

"Ooh, this is cute." I picked up a hot pink v-neck that had a rhinestone-studded collar.

"Should I wear it?" she asked tentatively.

"Yes!" I cried.

"Hello?" a familiar voice called out.

"Hey," I smiled as Ashley walked into the room.

"I thought you had classes until four? It's only like three now." I said.

"A dude in my class passed out so they let us out early." She grinned then pulled Lindsey into a hug.

"Are you wearing that?" Ashley asked, pointing to the pink shirt.

"Do you think I should?" Lindsey questioned.

"Yes, it's really you-ish." Ashley giggled.

"But leave the jeans you're wearing." I said and Ashley nodded in agreement.

"And gold gladiator sandals." Ashley exclaimed.

"Alright, alright." Lindsey laughed. "You next." she pointed at Ashley.

We searched through Ashley's closet furiously.

"What about this?'' Lindsey held up a long sleeve dark blue shirt.

"Yeah, with this vest."

Ashley grinned, clearly pleased with our combination.

"Skinny jeans and black wedges." I added.

"Alex's turn." Ashley grinned and dragged me towards my closest.

I couldn't help but imagine that my friends would pick out something totally horrendous for me.

"Oh, this. You've never worn it." Ashley held up a dark green sequin tank top.

"Yes! With these!" Lindsey held out silver ballet flats.

I went over the outfit in my head. It could work.

"Fine." I smiled.

We all left to change.

After pulling on the tank top, I layered a light-gray zip up hoodie over it.

"Really?" Ashley pouted when she saw the hoodie.

"Really." I grinned.

"But it's so-"

"Perfect? I know." I laughed.

Ashley had never been a fan of my hoodie obsession. It's true, I loved hoodies, but this one really helped to play down the, um, shininess of the outfit.

We were going to do each other's hair, but we all decided to do our own.

Lindsey simply straightened out a few waves and threw hers into a high ponytail.

Ashley curled her hair, while I put a bit of beach spray in mine to give it a wavy, tousled look.

"Should we get going?" Ashley called as she finished her last curl.

I looked at the clock. 5:45.

With the numbers I knew by heart from the afternoon, I called a taxi and it arrived about five minutes later.

"Let's go." I called to my friends as I grabbed my bag.

They ran down the stairs and followed me out the door and into the cab.

I gave the driver the address and we were off.

When we got there, we were about five minutes late.

I scanned the restaurant and found the five boys.

"Come on," I said to Ashley and Lindsey.

"Hello!" Louis was the first to welcome us.

"Hello." I smiled. "This is Lindsey." I gestured to my friend who stood smiling shyly.

"I'm Liam." Liam smiled warmly.

"I'm Zayn." Zayn introduced himself.

"Louis." Louis raised his hand in the air and grinned.

"And you already met us." Harry said, looking at Niall who nodded.

"You can sit down." Liam grinned.

I gave Lindsey a look, urging her to sit in the open spot next to Harry.

I could tell there was-or could be something between them, and I couldn't help meddling in my friend's love lives.

She looked a bit hesitant but sat down anyways.

I sat down on the other side of Lindsey, and Ashley sat down to the right of me.

We browsed through the menu and ordered a few minutes later.

I got Pasta Alfredo while everyone else leaned towards salads, burgers, lasagna, and chicken.

The whole time, Ashley and Zayn kept giving each other looks.

Lindsey, who had obviously also noticed, looked over at me.

I Shrugged y shoulders and got up, walking round the table to where Harry sat next to Niall who sat next to Zayn.

"Hello." I said.

"What are you doing?" Niall asked.

"You should switch seats with Ashley." I told him.

"Why?" he asked apprehensively.

"So she can sit next to Zayn."

"She just wants to sit next to you." Harry jumped in.

"I do not." I snapped back.

"I mean, it's not like I mind sitting next to you, it's just, I don't like you like.." I babbled on.

"It's fine." Niall grinned. "But why didn't you ask Lou?"

"He'd make some stupid comment." I said, knowing he'd probably say almost the same exact words that Harry had said.

"How do you know I won't?" Niall grinned at me.

"I can just tell. You don't know me well enough to say something stupid."

He just grinned back.

"So you'll switch with her?" I asked again.

He shrugged and glanced at Zayn who was laughing at something and paying no attention to what we were talking about,

"Sure."

"Cool." I grinned and walked back over to my seat, Niall following behind me.

"Ash, switch seats with Niall." I said as I sat back down.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously, eyeing Niall's old seat.

"Because we're going to play hangman." I said without hesitation.

"Duh." Niall added, rolling his eyes.

I grinned at the fact that he played along with my lie and stared at my best friend's face.

"Whatever." she narrowed her eyes at me.

Niall sat down and I got a glimpse of the shirt he was wearing.

"Cool shirt." I said.

It was sea-foam green and read "Free Hugs"

"Thanks." he grinned. "I like yours too. Green's my favorite color."

"Mine too." I nodded.

"I thought you guys were playing hangman." Ashley mocked from across the table.

"We are." I fished around in my purse for a notepad and a pen.

"You guess first." I said, writing out four blanks.

"A" he said and I filled in the first letter.

"E" I wrote an E in the third blank.

"I" he guessed next.

"Bad choice." I drew a little head.

He half-frowned and leaned in, concentrating on the paper.

A small smile crept onto his face as he realized the word.

"L" he grinned, his eyes meeting mine.

I wrote and L in the second blank.

"X"

"That was luck." I laughed, leaning my head on my hand.

"Don't get too comfortable." Harry said grinning and leaning across Lindsey.

I stiffened and leaned back. I hadn't realized how close we had been.

"Sorry." I felt my face turning a bit pink, but Niall didn't seem quite as embarrassed.

"Harry's just jealous because you're paying more attention to me than him." Niall smirked at Harry.

Harry glanced at Lindsey. "I don't think I want Alex's attention."

His gaze rested on Lindsey, who was blushing furiously, a few moments more than shifted back to Niall.

"I think it's you who wants her attention, mate." Harry glanced at Niall and I.

I squirmed in my seat and looked at Niall out of the corner of my eye. His ears were turning a bit pink.

"Whatever, man." Niall shrugged and turned to talk to Liam.

I sat silent for a few minutes, wondering what had just happened.

My silence was broken when our food arrived moments later.

I lightly hummed One Thing as our waitress set down my pasta.

"I need that one thing." Niall sang.

"You've got that one thing." Liam jumped in.

"Now I'm climbing the walls." Niall's voice also transitioned into a hum.

"That's my favorite song." Niall said as he picked up his fork.

"Mine too. But I mentioned that yesterday." I smiled.

The chatter died off as we all began to eat.

"This is amazing." Niall sighed.

"Can I try it?" I asked, looking at the lasagna that he had ordered.

He glanced at me for a few moments, obviously judging whether or not I deserved such fantastic lasagna.

"Yeah." he pushed the plate towards me.

I took a bite of the lasagna. "That's really good."

"Wait a moment." Liam, who had been talking to Louis, paused. "Did Niall just share his food?"

I nodded slowly.

"You must be really special." Liam laughed.

I smiled shyly. Compliments were a foreign thing for me. Actually, hanging out with guys was a foreign thing to me. The fact that I felt so comfortable around all of them astounded me.

The rest of the dinner passed by nicely. Niall and I ended up playing hangman a few more times, keeping a safe distance away from each other, however.

"I guess we'll see you around." Niall's eyes locked on mine as we stood to leave.

"No," Harry stopped. "Let us escort you home."

The curly-locked boy looked at Lindsey and exchanged grins with her.

"You don't have-" Ashley was cut off.

"We insist." Harry said.

Ash, Lindsey and I all glanced at each other.

"If it's not out of your way." I said.

"It's not." Liam replied.

"Alright." Ashley answered for the three of us.

Fitting eight people in a five-person car is a bit like trying to fit seven people in a four-person booth.

Easier said than done.

Harry offered Lindsey the passenger seat, but Louis also took Harry up on that offer and squished in next to Lindsey.

In the back it was Liam, Zayn, Ashley, Niall and I.

It was a bit cramped.

"What'd you think about that place?" Niall asked me.

"It was nice." I nodded.

It really was. It wasn't the fanciest restaurant I'd ever been to, but I preferred casual places anyways, and I think you could go anywhere with these boys and still have a great time.

"What do you think about the tour? Are you excited?" he asked.

"If by excited you mean extremely nervous, then yes. I'm very excited." I grinned.

"What about you?" I leaned my head against the cool window.

"About the same." He answered.

I nodded and yawned, my eyelids fluttering closed.

* * *

><p>"Alex, wake up." Someone said.<p>

"Huh?' my eyes slowly opened.

"We're here." Niall smiled softly.

"Oh, right. Thanks." I half-smiled and lifted my head off the car window.

"See you." he beamed.

"Bye." I returned a sleepy smile and stood waiting for Ashley and Lindsey.

Once both were out, we gave a quick wave and headed inside.

I collapsed in my bed, dying to go to sleep, but that clearly wouldn't happen quite yet.

"Harry's in love with Lindsey." Ashley jumped on my bed, grinning.

"He is not." Lindsey rolled her eyes and sat down. "Besides, you're in love with Zayn."

"I think we're avoiding the real issue. Alex's clearly in love with Niall." Ashley smirked at me.

"I am not." I said.

I mean, he was pretty sweet. And funny. And adorable.

But I wasn't in love with the boy.

"But you have a crush on him." Lindsey giggled and poked my arm.

I shrugged and smiled.

"Maybe a small one." I admit.

And it was a small one. I could never actually fall for him. We would be touring together for half a year and it was something that couldn't happen.

"Awww." Lindsey and Ashley cried out.

"You guys are beyond weird." I laughed and smacked their arms with my squishy pillow. "Now go watch a movie or talk about me behind my back. I have to get some sleep."

"Nighty-night." Lindsey said as they strolled out.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite." I giggled and clicked off my light.

* * *

><p><strong>Gah, so it took me forever to type this chapter, and I apologize that it took me like a week to update ;P<strong>

**Also, my chapter's are progressively getting longer, I've noticed, so if you like this chapter's length or a previous chapter's length better, let me know :)**

**Thanks to all who have been reading, you have no idea how much it means, and also thanks to you if you've reviewed :) I'm going to try to update again as soon as I can.**

**Thank you all again :D**


	6. Beach Trip

"Hey there, sunshine." I shook Lindsey who wasn't use to being woken up at 7:30 in the morning.

"Go away." she mumbled.

"No, we're going to the beach. Get up." I said.

"Beach?" her eyes opened.

"Yes, but we'll leave you if you're not ready in.." I looked at my watch. "20 minutes."

Lindsey shuffled out of the guest room and towards the bathroom.

I walked into the kitchedn where Ashley was eating cereal.

My phone started ringing as I munched on some myself.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hi." an Irish accent said.

"Oh, hi there." I smiled at the sound of Niall's voice.

"The lads and I just finished up at a photo shoot and were wondering if you're busy." he said.

"Well, we're going to the beach. Wait, you just finished at a photo shoot?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he sighed as if the thought of another early-morning photo shoot was unbearable.

"That sucks." I said.

"Yep." he agreed.

"Here, talk to Ashley a moment." I handed the phone over to Ashley.

"Lindsey," I pounded my fist on the bathroom door.

"What?"

"Do you mind if the One Direction boys tag along on our beach trip?"

"No." she replied.

"Hey, can they go to the beach with us?" Ashley asked me as I walked back into the kitchen.

"As long as it's alright with you." I said. She nodded and handed me back my phone.

"Great. Sounds like you're going to the beach with us." I grinned and gave Niall the news.

* * *

><p>As we packed up the small silver car we'd rented for Lindsey's visit my mind drifted back to the previous night.<p>

"I think it's you who wants her attention, mate." Harry had said.

"Whatever man." Niall had replied.

Why didn't he deny it.

He should have denied it.

He didn't.

On the other hand, he didn't come right out and admit that he _did_ want my attention.

Why did guys have to be so confusing?

"You ready, Al?" Ashley asked me as she opened the car door.

"Yeah," I smiled and my thoughts snapped back to today.

I opened the door to the backseat and climbed in, our purses already covering the floor.

Lindsey appeared in the passenger seat and we started to drive.

"Turn the radio on." I insisted.

All of us could manage the hour drive as long as we had music playing.

About five minutes before we got there, as the scenery gradually changed, my phone vibrated.

I had changed it from One Thing to Up All Night that morning.

_Hello Beautiful ;)_

I grinned and replied to Harry's text.

_Think you meant to send this to Lindsey :)_

He replied a few moments later.

_Haha. How far away are you?_

I looked up right as Ashley pulled into a parking spot.

_Just got here._

We all got out of the car and took in the sight. The morning sun shone brightly over the three of us and the golden sun made way for cool, blue waves.

The beach looked completely deserted except for a few runners and ourselves.

"Hello!" a chipper voice said behind me.

I spun around. "Hi." I smiled at Louis who stood behind me.

He wore a white shirt with red stripes that ran horizontal across the fabric.

"The other boys are just down there." he pointed to a spot farther down the beach, where, sure enough, the other four boys sat on towels.

"Cool." I grinned. "We just have to unpack." I pointed to the back of the car where Lindsey and Ashley already stood, pulling out a few fold-up chairs, towels and our loads of food.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

"Nah, we'll be fine." I answered and picked up the stack of towels that Lindsey held out to me.

After balancing a few more things in our hands, Ashley, Lindsey and I walked down the small hill that led to the beach, with Louis in front of us, leading the way.

"Hiya," Ashley was the first to greet the others.

They all gave quick waves and grinned.

I spread out a light blue towel and sat down, tugging on my tan shorts. A neon yellow shirt hung loosely over the tankini top I'd worn. I never went swimming this early in the year, so I'm not sure why I wore it, but I had.

"So, how was the photo shoot?" I asked.

"Pretty good." Zayn nodded.

"Pretty boring." Harry rolled his eyes.

"I was hungry the whole time." Niall commented, shrugging his shoulders.

I grinned at their responses.

"Sounds thrilling." I teased.

"Exactly." Niall said as he tossed a soccer ball in the air.

"Hey, toss it here." I said to him.

"This?" he asked, holding up the soccer ball.

"Yep." I nodded, laughing.

"You'll have to catch me first." he grinned and got up, dribbling the soccer ball with his feet.

Lindsey glanced at me, and I silently willed her to keep her mouth shut. I knew she would. If I had to worry about anyone, it was Ashley.

"Fine." I said and got up.

He raised his eyebrows, daring me to try to get the ball.

Well, that'd be easy. An unknown fact about me? I'm a pretty fast sprinter.

He wove his way around a rock and behind the others. Harry, Louis and Lindsey sat chatting, but Liam, Zayn and Ashley watched as Niall and I fought it out for the soccer ball.

"Give up now." I half-whispered, half-laughed as I cornered Niall against a large rock.

He narrowed his eyes and gave the ball a kick. It veered off to the left and for a moment both of us just kind of watched it until it came to a complete stop.

We looked at each other and then both made a run for the ball.

I definitely was faster than him, but my flip flop caught on a stone and so when the ball was only a few feet away Niall was only a few paces behind me. I laughed and went to grab the soccer ball and he did too.

Our fingers brushed and an electric shock went up my arm as my hands locked around the soccer ball.

A laugh escaped his lips and he stood there, swinging his arms by his side.

"Ashley," I called out to my friend who was clapping for my success at trying to get the ball. "Come kick this back and forth with us."

She let out a clearly audible sigh and wandered over to where we stood, trying to look bored, but I saw the slight sparkle in her eyes. What was she up to?

"So, how long's the tour?" she inquired as I kicked the ball towards her.

"Uh..." Nobody had mentioned this detail to me, not even Joy.

"Six months." Niall smiled as Ashley threw the ball to him.

"No hands!" I called out.

Niall tossed the ball to me, still grinning.

"I apologize." Ashley looked sympathetically at Niall. "You'll have to spend half a year with her." She shook her head sadly.

"Hey!" I laughed and tossed the ball at her.

She caught it and laughed too. Niall simply rolled his eyes and held his hands out to catch it when Ashley threw it his way.

"If I can spend over a year touring with them," he pointed to the other four boys who still sat chatting away, "I think I'll be able to handle her."

I shrugged and laughed. "You haven't seen me when I'm grumpy."

"Or tired." Ashley rolled her eyes. "Or hyper." Lindsey added, sneaking up behind Ashley.

"It's true." I grinned.

Niall, who Ashley had thrown the ball to, tossed the soccer ball to Lindsey.

"But, she's a pretty cool kid when you get to know her." Lindsey smiled knowingly and threw the ball to me.

My cheeks heated up at the compliment. "Well, hate to brag, but.." I joked.

I bounced the ball on my knees a few times then chucked it back to Ashley. "I'm going to go look for seashells." I announced.

I skipped down to the shore where the sun was starting to warm the water up a bit. My eyes scanned the wet sand for anything interesting. My gaze landed on a green piece of glass. I picked it up, it's edges smooth from the waves.

"What's that?" Harry asked, leaning over my shoulder.

"Glass." I held it up so he could see and then tucked it into my pocket. I strolled a little farther away but Harry followed.

"So, I bet you didn't know that Niall's single." Harry said when he was sure we were out of hearing range of the others.

I spun around to face him. "Well, I bet you didn't know that I've got two fists for a reason." I smirked, but I could feel my face heating up a bit.

"Oh, come on. You don't like him? Not even a little bit?" he asked, pouting.

"Not even a little bit," I answered.

I had thoroughly convinced myself on the ride over that having a crush on any of the boys was out of the question. Of course, if I did fall for any of them, it was Niall. I mean, it would be Niall. I definitely hadn't fallen for him.

"Hmm." he said, rolling his eyes.

"What about Lindsey?" I grinned, wanting to change the conversation onto him. I rather liked seeing people in uncomfortable situations.

"She's nice." he smiled shyly. Did nothing phase this boy?

I grinned and rolled my eyes as he had, picking up a smooth clam shell.

"Don't look now, but she's looking right at you." I smiled at Lindsey who was staring at Harry. She looked a bit confused.

Despite my comment, Harry turned right around to see Lindsey. He gave her a brilliant smile and wave and she gave a small wave back. "Go talk to her." I grinned.

"I'll send your lover over." Harry said as he jogged towards Lindsey.

"No, don-" I started but he already was racing towards Niall.

Niall looked from Harry to me as Harry talked to him, probably saying something horribly embarrassing about me.

I turned away and continued searching the shore, but I heard the footsteps as Niall approached.

"Hey, Harry said you had a question for me." he said, his blue eyes wide.

"Um, yeah." I stuttered. Harry hadn't totally embarrassed me. "Do you want to go find some lunch somewhere for everyone?" I blurted out. It was the first thing that came to mind, but looking at the time-11:20- it was perfectly timed, also considering we hadn't brought any food.

"With you?" he asked hesitantly.

"Uh, I guess." I felt a few butterflies in my stomach. What was wrong with me? How was I completely comfortable with him only a few days ago and now I was nervous beyond words.

"Okay." he said, and a small smile crept up onto his face.

"We should probably let them know we're going." I said, pointing to the others who sat laughing at something.

"Yeah," he said, jogging over to them.

I slipped the glass and shells I had found into my pocket and followed him.

"We're going to go out and get lunch. Any special requests?" I said as we approached them all.

"Ooh, can I go?" Louis raised his hand like an excited little schoolboy.

"No, Lou. You have to stay here." Harry patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"You can go." I shrugged.

"Who will tell all the funny jokes?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

"Come on, I'm sure Liam's hilarious." I said, grinning.

"Hey, I am!" Liam laughed.

I held my hands up in defense. "I was being dead serious."

"Just go," Ashley rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Sure you don't want to go?" I asked Louis.

"Yeah, someone's gotta be the life of the party, I'm afraid." he pretended to be mad.

"Alright." I smiled and turned to Ashley. "Keys?"

She tossed them to me and gave me a wink.

"Let's go." I smiled at Ashley and then turned to Niall. "Race ya." I grinned and sprinted to the car.

"That's not fair. You got a head start." Niall said, a bit out of breath and beaming once he reached the car. His braces peeked through and his blonde hair flopped down in his face. He looked pretty darn cute.

What was I saying. Not cute, not cute at all.

I shrugged. "I have to win at something. I mean we all know who's better at singing." I smiled.

"You." he pointed at me.

"No, that one goes to you." I grinned and got in the driver's seat.

"Well, we both know who would win for prettiest." he smiled as he got in the passenger seat.

There are the butterflies again.

* * *

><p><strong>Hi there :) So this definitely isn't my best chapter, but I felt obliged to update. So, for those of you who would be so kind as to review, could you let me know if it seems too hasty? I mean, they're not going to be kissing by the end of the nest chapter or anything, but I thought that those compliments at the end sort of were like icebreakers.. So anyways, not my best chapter, but hope you liked it anyways. Please review if you have time :) It means the world and lets me know what I should work on.<strong>

**xoxoxo Alex**


	7. Kite Flying And, Um, Grocery Shopping

As soon as I turned the keys in the ignition, the radio snapped on.

An older song, Take It Easy, was playing. "Sorry, you change it." I smiled shyly. "I was sort of raised on oldies."

"It's fine." he grinned. "You know, the Eagles co-wrote this-"

"With Jackson Browne." I finished his sentence.

He smiled and raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed.

"So, where exactly where you planning to get lunch at?" he asked, changing the radio station as Take It Easy ended.

I shrugged. "I just figured we'd drive around until we found a place."

He laughed. "Good plan."

"I thought it was." I grinned.

He continued flipping through the channels. My ears picked up the unique beginning of Secrets by OneRepublic.

"Oh, can you leave this on?" I asked.

"Sure." he pulled his hand away and ran it through his hair.

I was a huge OneRepublic fan, and Secrets was easily one of my favorite songs. I sang along lightly, but when I realized Niall was staring at me, smiling, I stopped.

So Good by B.O.B. came on right afterwards. "I love this song." he commented.

"You can put your feet up, be my senorita." we half-sang, half-laughed. When had we started laughing? Or singing?

"This song's so stupid." I grinned. I actually really liked the song, but it felt weird singing with Niall.

Niall just smiled and looked out the window. I did too, realizing that I should have been looking for restaurants.

"Oh, let's go to Wendy's." I grinned as the familiar red sign came into view.

I had always loved Wendy's, but I hadn't been there in ages. I could hear my publicist, Melinda, already. "Do you know what that will do to your figure? What if the press sees you? We'll have to put you on diet pills if you go there."

I rolled my eyes at the nagging voice in my head.

"I've never been there." Niall said.

"Never?" my voice lined with surprise.

He shook his head no.

"Well, that changes today." I said as I pulled into the parking lot, and then into the drive-through line.

It turns out that ordering food for eight people, six of which weren't present, was rather hard.

Niall had a good idea of what each of the boys woulds want, and I could easily order for Lindsey and Ashley, but relaying our whole order was rather tedious.

"Never again." I collapsed into a fit of giggles after we had finished our nearly never-ending order.

Niall started laughing too and we didn't calm down until the car behind us let out and angry honk, urging us to drive to the next window.

I drove up and searched for my wallet.

"I'm paying." Niall said flatly. "No chance." I replied.

The girl at the window turned around and caught sight of me.

"Oh my god." she looked about sixteen. "You're Alex," she grinned shyly.

At this point Niall leaned across me and handed the girl his credit card.

The girls eyes widened. "And you're.."

"Niall." he filled in the gap.

"I'm a big fan. Of both of you." she smiled nervously.

"Thanks. From both of us." I grinned back at her.

"Are you two, like, together?" she asked as she swiped Niall's card.

"Oh, no." Niall said quickly.

"No way," I laughed, trying to hide my face, which was becoming redder by the second.

"Oh, well you'd look cute together." she gave another shy smile then handed over all our food along with Niall's credit card.

"Thanks." I smiled as I accepted all of our food and the card.

"Sure. Have a great day." she beamed.

"I told you I was going to pay." I hissed as I pulled up to the exit.

He shrugged and took the card I held out to him.

We drove out and the next few minutes would have been pretty awkward had Niall not turned the radio back on.

After a couple more songs we began to talk again.

"So, is Harry interested in Lindsey?" I asked.

Niall cocked his head to the side. "Yeah, I think so. Are _you_ interested in Harry?"

"Oh, heavens no." I grinned. "He reminds me too much of my brother."

My older brother, Andrew, flirted with every girl he came across.

A light, airy lip escaped Niall's lips.

"Why is that funny?" I tried to hold back a grin.

"He'll just be upset to learn he couldn't seduce you." he grinned back.

"Such a shame." I giggled.

As we drove back to the beach, we chattered about silly ways to get Harry and Lindsey together.

"What about Ashley and Zayn?" I inquired as I pulled into the same spot Ashley had parked in that morning.

A few more cars were scattered in the parking lot.

"I think he has a thing for her." he smiled slowly.

"Great." I grinned.

He took the bags of food as I carried down the sodas.

"Hey, look. We've got food." I beamed as we made our way down to the pile of beach towels that everyone sat around.

"Have you guys moved an inch?" Niall asked the question that I'd been wondering.

"Nope." Zayn replied.

I laughed. "Don't want to be too active now, do we?"

"Of course not." Lindsey grinned.

I sat down all the sodas and plopped down on my own towel.

Niall sat next to Louis on the towel across from me, but gave me quick smile before starting up a conversation with Liam.

"So, how was getting lunch?" Lindsey asked nonchalantly as I pulled out my burger.

"I don't know." I took a bite of my burger. "How was sitting here next to Harry for an hour?" I asked, playing the same game she was.

"Touche." she rolled her eyes at me.

I half-smiled and finished off my burger.

"You know, if we stay a bit later, we should have a bonfire." the scrambled thought came out of my mouth.

"That sounds fun." Louis clapped his hands in approval.

"We'll need more food." Niall said, his face completely serious.

I smirked and nodded. "True."

"I think that's a good idea, though." Harry nodded his head slowly.

"Will we need wood or anything?" Liam asked.

"No, I saw a fire pit up there. It's already got some wood in it." I point to the area, a little farther down the beach, where I had spotted the fire pit ring.

"We just need matches." I finished.

"I have some in my purse." Ashley added.

"Cool beans." I said, squinting as the sun reflected off the deep blue water.

"So, who's going to buy food for dinner?" Harry asked slowly.

"I nominate Alex." Ashley grinned at me.

"I second that!" Lindsey raised her hand in the air.

"I also vote for Alex." Zayn nodded.

"You guys." I groaned.

"I vote Liam." Louis laughed.

"I vote Niall." Lindsey smirked.

"You can't vote twice," I said, raising my eyebrows.

"Too late, it already counts." she shrugged. "Now the only four votes left are Liam, Niall, Harry, and Alex's."

"I also vote for Alex." Harry nodded.

"I vote for Lindsey." I said, knowing it would do no good.

Liam and Niall shouted each other's names at the same time. "Looks like you'll both be going." Louis said politely.

"We'll leave to pick some stuff up in about," I looked at my watch. "An hour and a half."

Everyone nodded.

"Lindsey, would you like to go on a walk with me?" Harry got up and held out his hand.

"Um, sure." Lindsey stammered.

Niall and I shot each other an approving glance. Looks like we wouldn't have to meddle as much as we thought.

Lindsey and Harry started walking down the shore, which looked as if if it stretched around the whole planet.

"Ashley," I began. "Did we bring the kites?"

"Oh, yeah." she grinned. I had been the first person that Ashley ever flew a kite with. She was thirteen when she told me she'd never flown a kite before. We always brought them to the beach now.

"Great, I'll go get them." I smiled and got up.

"I want to see them." Louis got up and followed me up the bank and towards the car.

I unlocked the trunk of the car and got out our two kites. Ashley's was light blue and covered in light, puffy clouds and had pink tails. Mine was a vibrant gold and dragons were scattered over it. I had gotten mine in Chinatown, but Ashley's was simply from a toy store.

"This one's pretty scary." Louis pointed at mine.

"Yes, my kite's have always given me an intimidating edge." I grinned.

We took off back down to the beach and arrived back at the spot where the others sat.

"Liam wants to fly one." Ashley said, and took hers out of my hand and gave it to Liam.

"It's perfect weather." I commented. A slight breeze was rolling in and the sun was dazzling.

"Oh, me too." Niall jumped up.

"Here," I handed him mine, figuring I could fly it later.

He took it graciously and ran over to where Liam was standing, Ashley's kite already tumbling high about in the sky.

"So, where are you from originally?" Zayn asked us, leaning back a bit.

I crinkled my eyebrows. I was sure they'd already asked this when I first met them.

"Baltimore." Louis smiled at me. Oh yeah, Zayn hadn't been there when I first met everyone earlier in the week.

I smiled back, impressed that he'd remembered. "Yes, we're both from Baltimore." I grinned at Ashley who added "And Lindsey, too."

"How'd you meet then?" Zayn asked his gaze continually landing on Ashley.

I couldn't help but smile at my best friend who kept looking to me for guidance. "Well, Ashley and I met when we were two, at our preschool. Lindsey lived across the street from me, and we became friends when I was in third grade and she was in second."

Yes, Lindsey was a year younger than me, and this made me have that slight older sister role. The fact that Harry was interested in her made me ecstatic and horribly worried at the same time.

"And then she introduced us when we were in fifth grade." Ashley finished.

"They bickered a lot, but as we got older they became really close." I said, smiling as I remembered the stupid things Ashley and Lindsey fought about. They still fought, but it wasn't as bad.

I remembered one time, only about a year ago, as if it was yesterday.

* * *

><p><em>"Alex!"<em> Lindsey had shouted from down the hall.

_"Hmm?" _I'd replied, my thoughts occupied by the sleepover that was going to take place as soon as Lindsey got to my room.

_"I'm going to guess it's something One Direction related."_ Ashley had grinned at me.

Okay, so our obsession with them was a little bit extreme back then. Luckily, it had mellowed out over the past year.

_"It is!"_ Lindsey had practically screamed as she burst into my room. _"Sarah texted me saying that Harry-the Harry Styles- complimented you on your performances on American Idol in an interview."_

I checked my twitter right away. I mean, I wasn't as famous as One Direction, but my twitter was sort blowing up. _"Oh, Gosh." _I had grinned.

I didn't realize how popular I was getting until that moment. Ashley just sighed and smiled at me. "You guys are way too obsessed with them."

_"Oh, don't act like you don't like them."_ Lindsey rolled her eyes. _"I've seen the folder where you hide all your posters of them."_

Ashley looked a bit taken back, but just smirked at Lindsey. _"Yeah, well, I don't exactly want the public to think that my romantic life revolves around five boys I've never even met."_

_"Oh, knock it off. Let's just listen to some One Direction and eat m&m's." _I had rolled my eyes and tossed them both bags of their favorite candy.

* * *

><p>"Alex, you there?" Niall snapped his fingers in front of my face.<p>

"Huh? Oh, yeah." I said, blinking back my nostalgia. I really missed our weekly sleepovers.

"Did you want to fly the kite at all?" he asked, holding it out to me.

"Oh, sure." I took the kite and bounced up. I walked a little ways away from everybody, so I wouldn't hit anyone in the face if my kite took a nosedive, then unraveled the string.

The kite took off into the air and I stared up in awe as I bounced around in the breeze. Kite's had always amused me and were a bit relaxing.

"Liam's almost as good as you." Niall said, popping up behind me.

"I don't know." I mused. "I'm pretty much a kite-flying expert."

At this time, my kite appropriately fell to the ground, dragging in the sand a bit.

"It totally shows." he grinned at me.

"Oh, please. Like you can do better." I rolled my eyes and returned the smile, my insides doing flips.

I lifted my kite up and the wind bit at it, lifting it into the sky again.

I took this opportunity to quickly turn to Niall and smirk.

His eyes sparkled and matched the color of the ocean perfectly. He was pretty adora-

Pretty good friend material. Just a friend. Nothing more. Definitely not adorable.

Apparently I wasn't as good at kite-flying as I'd made myself out to be because a few moments later a whiny "Ow" reached my ears.

"Oops, sorry." I grinned sheepishly at Harry who had been hit by my falling kite.

Lindsey giggled and I looked in her eyes. They were filled with a giddiness and twinkle I'd only seen once before- when she had been with her ex-boyfriend Jake.

Yeah, Harry would be in serious danger if he hurt Lindsey in anyway.

"Come on," Lindsey patted Harry's back. "Let's go sit with the others before Alex hits you again on _accident._"

"It was an accident." I whined, smiling at my best friend.

"Mhm." she winked.

"Jeez," I laughed. I stole a glance at my watch. "Should we get going in a bit then?" I asked Niall who still stood behind me, chuckling at the charade that had just occurred.

"Yeah, probably." he nodded but didn't move.

"So." I said awkwardly. "Ireland. How's it there?"

He shrugged and smiled softly. "It's nice. I mean, it is, when I can get back there." It was obvious he was a bit homesick.

I gave him the same type of smile back. I got to see my family a bit more than him probably, but I still knew the feeling. I was pretty reliant on my mom and older siblings, but once I started touring, I was sort of on my own.

Well, except for Ashley who said she couldn't bear to leave me. Or the excessive freebies I got. And the amazing hotels I stayed in.

"What about the UK? Is it nice there?" I asked, knowing we'd be doing a bit of touring there also.

He nodded, the slightly uneasy look vanishing. "It's great. Real fun. I bet you'll love it." He gave me another childish grin and though I tried to fight it, I couldn't help smiling back.

"I've always been dying to go." I admit. "London Eye. Crumpets and posh accents. Telephone boxes and tea." I grinned at the rather stereotypical references.

"All that and more." Liam said, throwing an arm around Niall.

I giggle and rolled up my kite, which seemed unaffected by the hit to Harry's head.

"Shall we get going?" Liam asked, handing me Ashley's kite.

"Sure." I said, pulling the car keys out of my pocket.

"Hey," I shouted. "We're gonna head out." Ashley nodded in response and several hands flew up to wave goodbye.

I beamed and headed up to the car, Niall and Liam following behind.

I climbed into the driver's seat while Liam and Niall argued over who got the passenger seat.

"How bout you both just sit in the back?" I suggested.

"But-" Liam started.

"That's not fair." Niall whined.

"Sit." I said.

"Fine." they both grumbled.

I grinned, pleased with my solution and started the engine. The radio that was still on from Niall and I's ride back from Wendy's clicked on.

The boys sung along to some pop song I didn't know, but as songs I knew came along I gradually started to sing with them.

We reached a super market only about fifteen minutes later, with the boys still singing along to every song that came on.

We strolled into the grocery store, with a few girls pointing our way. "Oh, goodness." I rolled my eyes and grinned.

"You guys, make yourselves useful and go get things for s'mores." I instructed. "I'll get the actual food."

Since I figured no one would really actually be in the mood to cook anything, I picked up a bag of that fried chicken that they make in the store and a couple of bags of salad mix, since Lindsey was a vegetarian. Besides, we could all use some greens once in a while.

I searched the aisles for Niall and Liam. I found Liam off getting the graham crackers, and then we found Niall filling up the basket with every sort of candy imaginable.

I scratched my head and tried to figure out the nicest way to tell him that we couldn't buy all of that candy.

"Niall, that much candy will make your teeth fall out in a minute." I winced.

"Please?" he begged.

"No. Just the marshmallows and the chocolate." I said.

"Oh, come on. Just a couple?" he gave me a sweet smile.

I looked at Liam for backup but he simply shrugged and said "It's best not to get in the way of Niall and his sweets."

I rolled my eyes and threw only about half of the candy out of the basket. Niall gave me a happy look, assuring me that I had made the right decision.

We proceeded through checkout and got back in the car.

The drive back to the beach was very similar to the ride there. The boys belted out every lyric, while I sat quietly, occasionally singing along to a song I knew.

Okay, so I knew most of the songs, but it still felt a bit awkward singing with them.

When we got back to the beach the others had already set up chairs and towels beside the fire pit.

"What'd you get?" Zayn asked.

"Loads and loads of candy." I gave Niall a glare. He gave me a boyish smile back and handed over the actual food.

"But also some chicken and salad. And stuff for s'mores." I told them.

"Sounds good." Ashley grinned and started to open everything.

We sat around the fire that Louis had started and ate our dinner, chatting away about the beautiful weather, and the tour, and travelling, and who knows what else.

"Harry, can I have the keys? I'll go get my guitar." Niall asked, standing up from his seat in between Zayn and Louis.

Harry tossed him the keys and Niall raced off to the parking lot as the sky began to darken and stars appeared.

He returned moments later, guitar in his hand, but instead of sitting back in his original spot, he sat down in the empty space to my right.

"Gee, thanks Niall." Louis rolled his eyes playfully.

"No problem, Lou." Niall replied with a grin.

He played a few chords of Stand Up and soon everyone was singing along.

"Can you play Tell Me A Lie? That's Ashley's current favorite." I smirked at my friend, who so desperately tried to hide her love for their music.

"Sure," he grinned and the song passed by as quickly as Stand Up.

We sang along to a few more songs, and I taught everyone the Campfire Song from SpongeBob.

"None of you have heard that before?" I asked in surprise.

Everyone shook their head no.

"Did you even have a childhood?" I raised my eyebrows.

Ashley and Lindsey beamed at me, knowing about my very apparent love of SpongeBob.

Niall set his guitar down and we all began to talk again.

I was talking to Lindsey when I realized Niall's hand had brushed up against mine.

"And she was going to take away my car but-" I stopped mid-sentence as shiver went up my arm.

"What's wrong?" she asked when I stopped.

"Nothing." I said, figuring Niall would move his hand.

But he didn't. His hand stayed where it was for the next twenty minutes, our fingers pressed against each others.

"We should get going, before it gets too dark." Ashley said, as we all realized how long we'd been talking.

I pulled my hands back and I could see Niall shooting me a glance out of the corner of my eye.

It was too late to pull my gaze away so I looked him straight in the eyes.

He gave me a breathtaking smile and got up, holding his hand out to help me up.

I'm not sure why I accepted his help. I mean, I've got two legs, I can stand up perfectly fine on my own, but I let him help me up anyways.

I rested my hand in his and he gave me a gentle tug up. I bounced on my heels and stood to face him. He gave my hand a light squeeze and then let go, as if nothing had happened.

_Nothing did happen_ I tried to convince myself as we drove home, Ashley and Lindsey laughing about how precious all the boys were and how we had to hang out again soon.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey there! So, I really love how this chapter turned out :) <strong>

**I hope you guys don't think I went too overboard their at the end, but if you did, hey, let me know :D**

**I'm super excited to hear feedback about this one, because it's probably my favorite of all the chapters I've written so far. So if you have time, I'd really appreciate it if you'd review**

**xoxo Alex**


	8. Lunch And Such

The next few weeks seemed to fly by. Lindsey had promised to stay up until the tour started on the 27th. "You'd miss that much school for me?" I asked, smiling gratefully at my friend. "You say it like it's a bad thing." she had giggled back.

I hadn't seen the boys much since our little beach get together, but I'd been texting all of them like crazy.

Several from Harry stood out in particular.

_Did I ever tell you about the day I lost my pet rock?_

_We're going to eat food. _

_Lou says hi, but don't say hi back or I'll lock you up in my evil dungeon._

When I'd showed these to Lindsey she just grinned. "And you like this boy because..?" I teased.

The others sent me random messages, asking what I was doing or how the girls were.

_Zayn definitely does not want to know if Ashley's single._ Louis texted me one day. I was basically on the floor, dying from laughter when Ashley walked in and asked what was wrong with me. I held my phone out to her and her naturally rosy cheeks turned a shade darker.

It was March 25th when I got an actual call from any of the boys, though.

"Hello?" I said, slightly out of breath from my rehearsal.

"Hi!" Liam said.

"Hey there," I grinned. Liam was very laid back and easy going.

"What are you up to?" he questioned.

"Just finished up at a rehearsal." I replied. So far we hadn't had any rehearsals together. I thought this was a bit odd, but Joy assured me that it was fine. "Most of the time you'll be performing separately, anyways." she'd said.

"Well, we were wondering if you, Ashley, and Lindsey would like to go out to lunch with us?" he said.

"That sounds great. I'm starving." I nodded, realizing how loud my stomach had been growling during practice.

"Cool. I'll send you the address."

"K. See you soon." I hung up.

A few minutes later the address arrived in a text, along with the time to meet their. I forwarded it to Ashley and Lindsey who replied with _Ok ;P _ and _Sure :)_

"Joy," I searched around for my manager. She appeared right in front of me, her ever present smile plastered on her face.

"You sound fabulous." she grinned.

"Thanks," I thanked her and smiled at her compliment. "Hey, can you get me a car or something?"

She nodded. "Sure. There's a rental out front, I think. Lemme just grab the keys for it."

She dashed off and returned a few minutes later, plopping the keys in my outstretched hand.

"Thanks darling." I beamed and raced out to the car.

I started up the engine and quickly dialed Ashley's number. She picked after the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey, do you guys want me to pick you up?" I asked as I stopped at a red light.

"Nope, we're already on our way there." she responded.

"Right, I'll see you soon then." I hung up and made a right.

My mind was racing as I drove to the restaurant. Was I too dressed up? Definitely not, I realized, as I looked down at my light wash skinny jeans, white ballet flats, and lacy poncho on top of a navy blue camisole. Nope, not too casual, but not too dressy either. My hair was in a floppy bun on the top of my head.

My thoughts were interrupted when I arrived at the restaurant. It was small, but cute and looked cozy.

I locked the car and walked through the entrance, looking for everyone. At 11:30 the small place was extremely busy and I had a hard time searching out my friends.

"Looking for someone?" someone said behind me.

I whirled around to face the attractive blonde haired boy who stood in front of me. Ok, I admit it. My main thought on the way over was what I was going to say when I first saw Niall.

I think my small crush, which I had hoped to deflate at the beach, had grown. Quite a bit.

"Nah," I smiled, leaning side to side. "I was just planning on getting a table by myself. You want an autograph or a picture?" my eyes widened as I pretended he was a fan.

He sighed and shook his head. "I left my phone at home."

"What a shame." I rolled my eyes.

"I'll just have to get that picture another time." he gave me a playful smile and I tried not to blush as I grinned back.

He led me to the table where everybody sat. Well, it was actually two tables pressed together since we had eight people and each table only sat four people. Ashley and Lindsey were already there.

"Hey, I saved you a seat." Lindsey patted the empty seat next to her. I took it graciously and scanned the menu.

"What are you getting?" Ashley asked me.

"Maybe two slices of pizza. And some fries. Would you split a piece of pie with me later?" I asked her as I realized how hungry I was.

"Jeez Alex. You could start your own restaurant with that much food." Lindsey elbowed me gently.

"Hey, don't make fun of me." I laughed at the girl who was the closest thing I had to a sister. You know, besides Ashley. And besides my actual sister, Rena. Rena was 27 and I could see her reacting to the situation at hand in my head.

"You're hanging out with 5 teenage boys?" she'd say, her voice coated in a mix of excitement and protectiveness. "Yup," I'd reply. "Well, try not to lead too many of them on." she'd probably wink and then tell all the boys to never flirt with me or touch me or even speak to me again. "Rena! Boys don't like me. No exceptions." I'd scold and try to pull her away before she scarred the boys with her over-protective sister lectures.

I mean, it was true. I had problems even talking to boys, but these guys were so easy-going and sweet. Even when I said something embarrassing and stupid they'd turn it into something clever or funny.

"Did you guys already order?" I asked everyone.

They nodded and Louis answered. "Everyone but you, love."

"No pressure or anything." I joked and when the waitress came around I placed my order.

I examined the table quietly. Louis sat to the left of me, with Liam on his left. Lindsey sat on my right with Harry right beside her. And when I say right beside her, I mean _right_ beside her. Zayn sat next to Harry and Ashley sat next to Zayn. Niall had taken the seat next to Ashley and Liam and-wait, had he just smiled at me. No, like right at me.

I turned my gaze to the boy who sat diagonal to me. He wiggled his eyebrows and stuck his tongue out. I half-smiled and held in my giggles.

I went cross eyed only for a second, but Lindsey caught me. "What are you doing?" she grinned.

"Nothing." I smiled at Niall and took a drink of my iced tea.

"Oh, yeah. Totally nothing." she rolled her eyes.

"When will our food get here?" Niall whined right as the waitress appeared behind him.

She gave him a disapproving look and rolled her eyes as she dished out our meals. We all held back grins, but once she had left we burst into a fit of laughter.

"Niall," Liam poked Niall. "That was very rude."

It was hard to even speak in between laughs.

"Oh, gosh. I think I'll simply die if I don't eat soon." Harry mocked Niall who sat laughing along with everyone, his cheeks a bit pink. Why was he so cute?

I ate the pizza and fries I got pretty quickly. "What brand vacuum are you and what did you do with Alex?" Ashley joked.

"Stop it," I laughed and buried my face in my hands.

"It's okay." Ashley continued. "I've been needing a vacuum for our apartment. Alex leaves the living room a mess."

I grinned and leaned my head on my hand, wondering how I had ended up with a friend like her.

* * *

><p>I had grinned back at Alex when Lindsey caught her making faces at me. She was pretty cute.<p>

"You like her. You like her." Louis had chanted the whole way home from the beach. He had caught me helping her up. I was just being nice, I guess.

We sat waiting for our food but soon it became to much for me to bear.

"When will our food get here?" I blurted out. Unfortunately, the waitress had been right behind me.

Everyone started laughing after she left, and I had seen Alex looking at me, a bright smile on her face.

I had blushed a bit but laughed along because this sort of thing always seemed to happen to me.

We ate our food while chatting a bit.

"Ashley, will you split a piece of pie with me or not?" Alex asked, pouting at her best friend.

"Alex, I'm way too stuffed." Ashley sighed and patted her stomach.

"Anyone?" Alex's gaze landed on Lindsey than me.

"I will." I said, still a bit hungry myself.

"Do you mind chocolate?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not at all." I grinned.

"Just try not to insult the staff's speed anymore, k?" she smiled at me teasingly.

She ordered the desert when the woman came back over. She nodded at Alex sweetly and then gave me a nasty glare.

I grinned at Liam who sat beside me. He just laughed and rolled his eyes.

"So, are you going to come along with Alex at all during the tour?" Zayn asked Ashley.

She shrugged, smiling. "Maybe. Depends on my school schedule. Definitely in the summer though."

"Good." Harry nodded. "How about you, love?" he directed his question to Lindsey.

"Um, same as Ashley. After school's over I'll be with Alex and Ashley." she smiled shyly.

My attention broke away from their conversation when our pie arrived.

"I get the whip cream." Alex stated, splitting the slice down the middle with her fork.

"That's not fair." I grinned.

"Um, it's totally fair. Whip cream's for the coolest, right?" she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that means I should get it." I smirked.

"Don't push your luck." she beamed and pushed my half of the slice over the table.

"Yeah Niall, gosh." Louis sighed.

I grinned and started in on the pie, which tasted like heaven.

We talked about our rehearsals a bit and then Alex mentioned she had to return the car she'd borrowed.

She looked up a few moments later and patted Lindsey's shoulder.

She whispered something in her ear and Lindsey turned to her, a half-smile forming on her face.

* * *

><p>"I lost the keys!" I said to Lindsey.<p>

She just grinned a bit. "It's not funny." I pouted.

"Just look around a bit." she said, shaking her head and turning her attention back to Harry.

I leaned my head back and sighed.

"What is it?" Niall asked from across the table where he'd finished his pie only a few moments before me.

"I lost my keys." I mumbled, avoiding his gaze.

"Let's look on the floor." he got up and walked over to where I sat. I got up and nodded, his idea seeming to be the only logical one. I found it rather funny that Niall was planning on helping me, rather than one of my best friends.

We asked at the desk, but they said they hadn't found any keys. We looked under the seats at our table and then around the rest of the restaurant. Turns out I'd dropped them on the way in, by the door.

"Be careful where you put those next time." Niall grinned at me.

"Yeah," I smiled at him, getting lost in his eyes.

"Hey, Alex," he smiled softly.

"Hmm?" I snapped out of the spell his eyes had cast on me.

"You haven't been ignoring me have you?"

I cocked my head to the side. "Why would I ignore you?"

"I don't know," he shrugged and gave a small smile.

The truth is I had been ignoring him. Not necessarily today, but ever since the beach I'd made an effort to try to weaken the sudden feelings I'd acquired for him. Whenever he called I let it go to voice mail and when he texted me I would reply a few times and then say I was busy or had to go.

Thus, by answering the way I did, I wasn't _really _lying. I hated lying and I was pretty awful at it.

"Well, I don't know why either." I smiled back and tossed the keys from one hand to another.

We stood there for a few seconds, not really saying anything. "Well, I should get going. I mean, have to return this car and all. Can you tell everyone that I'm leaving?" I asked him, breaking the silence.

"Well, I can go with you if you want." he offered.

"Um, that's okay. I don't want you to feel like you have to.." I trailed off.

"It's okay. Everyone else is totally in love over there, anyways." he gestured to the table and then seemed to pick up on the unintentional thing that he'd just suggested. My eyes widened again and I must have looked pretty stupid.

"I'm not saying that we should, like, you know-" he stuttered.

"Be in love? No, I know. I mean, we're not," I continued with his rambling.

"No," he shook his head to confirm it.

"Well, you can come if you want." I blurted out before my mind could process what I was doing.

"Alright. Lemme just let everyone know." he walked over to our table and informed everyone that he was accompanying me back to the rehearsal building. Ashley and Lindsey and Louis turned to look at me, a teasing look in each of their smiles. I rolled my eyes and hugged my arms against my chest.

"You ready?" Niall asked, walking back to the entrance.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." I nodded and held the door open.

"Ladies first." he smiled.

I pretended to curtsy and had an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. It happened when we first met. This exact moment happened when we first met.

Because of this I started to giggle. And then it was a full-out laugh.

"What is it?" Niall grinned at me, the door shutting behind us.

"It's just that-" I was stopped mid sentence by another round of giggles.

"Tell me." Niall whined but his eyes were shining.

"Nothing," I smiled and wiped away the tears that were forming in my eyes. "It's just funny because, well, that happened when I first met you, too."

He scrunched up his eyes then relaxed int a grin. "Oh yeah. That was a bit of an awkward introduction, huh?"

"I guess. I usually end up looking like an idiot in front of guys when I first meet them, though." I smiled and unlocked.

"Well, looking back, you looked like a pretty cute idiot, if you ask me." he gave me another smile and opened the door. I stood there, staring at him with a mixture of shock and what he possibly thought was cuteness painted on my face.

I quickly turned on my heel before he could embarrass (or was it flatter?) me anymore and unlocked my door.

God bless the fact that I'm always listening to music.

The radio shook on as soon as I turned the car on. The Script.

"I haven't heard this in ages." I said as the chorus of The Man Who Can't Be Moved softly sounded through the speakers.

"Do you listen to much of their music?" Niall asked.

I guess my brain forgot that I had just been in a totally awkward situation with him so I answered. "I adore them. They have really powerful music."

"Like every song tells a story." he nodded and I couldn't help feeling totally relaxed, like I could tell him anything.

The song finished up and Drops Of Jupiter by Train followed.

"Jeez, I love this song too. It must be Alex Appreciation Day." I smiled. "Do you know this one?" I asked Niall.

He shook his head no. I raised my eyebrows in mock surprise. "Download it as soon as you get home." I said.

"Would that make little Alex happy?" Niall grinned back.

"No, but ice cream would." I contemplated, smiling.

"Then let's get ice cream." he stated simply.

"I was kidding." I said, but now the idea appealed to me.

"I wasn't. I think there's some place around here where we can get ice cream." he mumbled, looking down at his phone.

"I think you're right." I answered and took a right towards an ice cream shop, rather than the left that would take me to the rehearsal building.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey lovebugss :D<strong>

**So, here it is. The next chapter. Um, I don't know if I'm overkilling it with the flirting so if you review it'd be great if you let me know your opinon on that.**

**Ok well, hope you enjoy the chapter and such.**

**xoxo Alex**


	9. Pizza Again?

"What are you getting?" I asked Niall.

"Hmm, cookies and cream." he answered.

"Ew, really?" I teased.

"Really. What are you getting?" he asked back.

"Mint chocolate chip." I replied without hesitation. It was my favorite flavor and I knew I'd get it before we even walked into the candy shop that doubled as an ice cream parlor.

"Then you're ready to order?" he asked, leaning against the counter.

I nodded.

We gave our requests to the boy who stood behind the counter and he tallied it up on the register.

"I'm paying this time." I snatched the wallet out of his hand and pulled a ten dollar bill out of my pocket.

"I always pay for dates." he rose his eyebrows.

"Well, it's an awfully good thing this isn't a date because I'm paying."

I handed over the money and tried not to show how flustered his comment had made me.

He gave me an annoyed look but didn't say anything.

"Where do you want to sit?" I asked after they'd handed over our ice cream.

"Why don't we walk around outside?" he grabbed my hand and steered my towards the door. I knew exactly why he had wanted to leave. A group of girls had been whispering and pointing at him while we'd ordered. Now they were probably sending me hate mail on twitter because Niall Horan had just grabbed my hand.

Let me repeat that- Niall was holding my hand.

"Where to?" I asked once we'd walked out.

"Down this sidewalk." he turned and led me along, his hand still locked around mine.

"Um," I began, hoping he'd get the hint that it was okay to pull his hand back.

"What?" he asked, and I could see the hesitation in his eyes that I'd missed before.

"Nothing," I shook my head and realized I _liked _holding hands with him.

What was happening here?

"So, tell me about Baltimore." he said.

"Um, well, it's really great. Lots of museums and shops and the Baltimore zoo. I think we're performing there." I answered.

I was really just describing inner harbor Baltimore, but he wouldn't know that. And besides, inner harbor Baltimore is where I _had _lived. And we were performing there. I had looked at our tour locations and Baltimore was there on the list. We'd be there May 1rst and 2nd.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yup," I answered. "Hey, hold this." I handed him my ice cream and pulled away the hand he was holding.

"Why?" he questioned.

"I have to put my hair back up." I gestured to my bun, which was falling out into a messy ponytail hybrid.

I took out the hair tie and redid the bun, but it didn't seem to change. I sighed in frustration.

"It looks fine." Niall chuckled.

"That's what they all say." I rolled my eyes and took my ice cream back.

We walked on a bit in silence. That seemed to happen a lot, but it was never an awkward silence. Just, well, silence.

"So," I said, turning the non-awkward silence into a very awkward conversation.

"So," he shot me a bright smile.

"So, which boy are you closest with?" I asked.

He shrugged. "It's all kind of equal. Who are you closer with, Ashley or Lindsey?"

"It's the same. I'm equally close with both of them." I squinted against the relentless sun.

We had somehow made it all the way down the street and into a little city square. A large fountain sat in the middle of the cobblestone road. "Come on," I gave him a smile and sprinted towards the fountain, a burst of energy surging through me.

"You're crazy." Niall grinned and sat next to me on the edge of the fountain.

"Why?" I asked as I finished my ice cream.

"Because one minute you're all calm and normal and the next you're running around and laughing your head off." he replied, the smile still stuck on his lips.

"Might be side effects of the ice cream." I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Hmm, maybe."

* * *

><p>I dialed Alex's number again. As soon as I heard the click that signaled her answer I started up.<p>

"Alex! I can't believe you say you're going to drop off the car with Niall and you end up being gone for over an hour. Where are you? What are you doing? I mean, I know-"

I was cut off.

"Ashley, Ashley! It's Niall."

"Oh,"

Thank gosh he'd stopped me. I was about to finish with "I mean, I know you like him, but at least text us before you disappear with him." Something tells me Alex wouldn't be okay with me revealing that to Niall.

"We're fine. Do you want to talk to Alex?" he asked politely.

"Sure. Sorry for flipping out." I apologized to him, grinning.

"It's all good." he laughed.

"Hello?" Alex's voice rung through the phone.

"Whatever Niall claims I said, he's lying." I laughed.

"What did she say?" I heard Alex ask Niall. His response was muffled but hers wasn't.

"Ashley!" she scolded.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly.

She sighed and I knew that meant she forgave me.

"So, where are you?" I asked her curiously.

"You know that newer ice cream shop?" she asked.

"Mhm." I nodded.

"Around there." she stated.

"Well, Lindsey and I went to the boys place. They're playing x-box and we're just chilling. Come back here when you finish up your little date with Niall." I smirked.

"Ashley, shut it." Alex hissed.

"Later," I smiled into the phone.

"Bye," she grumbled.

I hung up and turned to Lindsey who sat beside me on the couch.

"Why does she deny the fact that she likes him?" Harry asked.

I shrugged. "She's just not good with guys, I guess."

"Plus, she just doesn't like anyone to know she likes somebody before that actual person knows." Lindsey added, scrolling through her phone.

Harry made a face and turned to Louis who wore the same facial expression.

"We have to teach that girl how to flirt." Louis said flatly.

"Trust me, we've tried." I sighed.

"Uh, yeah. _You've_ tried. Harry and I haven't." Louis replied.

"Good luck." Lindsey laughed.

I nodded, agreeing with her, but it only seemed to encourage them more.

"What should we do when they get here?" I asked.

There was a lack of ideas until Lindsey blurted out "Clue DVD!"

I grinned and let out a laugh.

"What's that?" Zayn asked, smiling.

"Basically our childhood." I beamed.

"It's like regular Clue but you use your DVD player too." Lindsey explained.

"But it's at the apartment." I complained.

"No, it's in the car!" Lindsey grinned. "Alex told me to put it in the car so we could play it_ somewhere_ before I left."

"This is definitely somewhere." Liam chuckled.

"Let's go get it." I took Lindsey's wrist and dragged her outside.

* * *

><p>As I pulled into the boy's driveway I saw Ashley and Lindsey fumbling around for something in our car.<p>

"What are you guys doing?" I asked as I stepped out.

"Getting Clue DVD." Lindsey gave me a silly grin.

My eyes widened and a huge smile made its way onto my face. "I seriously love you guys so much."

"Like we didn't already know that." Lindsey teased.

"Come on." I smiled at Niall who stood a few steps behind me.

"What exactly are we doing?" Niall asked as we walked into the house.

"Playing my favorite game in the whole world." I grinned.

We passed the room where I had been first introduced to the boys, up a flight of stairs and into a spacious room. The walls were a pale yellow and a few couches and a TV sat in the middle of the room. The boys were all sitting around the TV.

"Everybody save your game. We're playing Clue DVD." Ashley grinned.

"It sounds boring." Harry muttered.

"Blasphemy!" I shouted. Everyone turned to look at me.

"Excuse our little walking, talking dictionary." Lindsey smiled at me.

I rolled my eyes and helped Lindsey and Ash set up the game.

"K, is there anyone who doesn't want to play?" I asked.

Harry's hand shot up, along with Zayn and Niall's.

I shook my head. "Well, that's actually kind of good because we have the perfect number of players." Lindsey said. She was right. If those three had played we'd have to split up into teams.

The first game passed really quickly. I won, which wasn't a unusual because I was great at Clue. Give me any other game and I'll lose, but I'm pretty amazing at Clue. Ashley says it's my great observation skills.

"I was so close." Liam whined after I won the first game. "We can play again." I shrugged.

Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky the next time. Liam won that one, and was pretty excited when he found out he'd gotten it right.

We played one more game, but this time it was only Lindsey, Liam and I.

Niall snuck up behind me and sat down. He'd been talking to the other boys about and then started playfully arguing with Ashley about her Clue DVD skills. Let's just say there's a reason she wasn't playing in this last game..

"Ashley says she's going to kill me." Niall smirked.

I laughed and then cleared my face of all emotion. "She'll go through with it, trust me."

He rolled his eyes and sat down next to me in the floor, leaning his back against the couch behind him.

"Ready to lose?" Liam grinned.

"Hmm, no, that'll be you." I smiled sweetly.

"Guys, stop arguing. We all know who will really win." Lindsey gestured to herself.

"Go Lindsey!" Harry added, momentarily breaking away from his conversation with Louis.

I laughed and we started the game.

I took a bunch of notes, Niall occasionally whispering something I'd missed in my ear.

"I got it!" I practically screamed.

"Oh, come on Alex. I almost had it." Lindsey pouted.

"Nope, I got it." I beamed. I locked in my answer on the DVD.

"Come on, come on." I crossed my fingers.

"That's correct. You knew that-" the narrator's voice droned on.

"Woohoo!" I laughed and jumped up. "I'm pretty sure we can all agree I'm the Queen of Clue DVD." I collapsed onto the couch and grinned at Liam, who sat on the floor still, looking rather defeated.

"And I'm the King cause I gave you hints." Niall grinned cheekily up at me.

"I feel like if you two ruled over anything together the world would end up randomly bursting into flames." Louis said, sparing me from coming up with something witty to say back to Niall.

"Are you saying I'm not responsible?" I asked, pretending to look offended.

"No," Louis shook his head. "I'm saying both you _and_ Niall aren't responsible."

"Oh, that makes it so much better." I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Alex, you don't have anything else going on today, right?" Ashley asked me.

I shook my head. "Hallelujah."

"Do you want to stay for dinner then?" Harry asked us.

I looked at the others. Ashley shrugged and Lindsey just smiled and nodded her head.

"Sure, that sounds good." And then I realized that I'd never returned the-

"Car! I have to return the car." I grimaced.

"Well, we should probably get some stuff for dinner anyways, so we'll just take two cars." Ashley said.

"Alright." I sighed. "We'll be back in about an hour. What are having for dinner?"

"Can you cook?" Zayn asked.

"She can." Ashley pointed to me. "And so can she." she then pointed at Lindsey.

"Ashley can cook, it's just-" I began.

"Bad. Messy. Sometimes a fire hazard." Lindsey finished.

I grinned and Ashley started cracking up. Lindsey had sort of described Ashley's cooking skills perfectly.

"Whatever. Let's just go." Ashley grinned.

We walked outside and took off. Ashley and Lindsey were going to pick up food while I took the car back. After they finished up shopping they'd come back to pick me up.

The car ride back to the rehearsal building didn't take more than ten minutes so I sat outside on the stairs, waiting for my best friends.

My phone rang and I clicked on the new text message.

_What food did you get?_

I rolled my eyes and texted the silly Irish boy back. _I don't know. They're picking me up after they buy food, so I'm just sitting on the curb right now :)_

He replied a few seconds later._ How rude. Did they even leave you money to get a snack :o_

_Nope. They're heartless witches ;P_

_Hmm, I can tell. Well, hurry up getting back here. I'm afraid something's going to catch fire in the kingdom.. don't tell Lou ;)_

I giggled at the whole Clue Queen and King reference.

_Maybe he can be the Jester? _

_He likes that idea :) But he's sort of scared you'll set him on fire because he called you irresponsible._

_Just for the record, he's the one who put the idea in my head._

"You ready darling?" Lindsey called from the passenger seat.

"Mhm." I sing-songed.

As soon as I got in the car they bombarded me with questions.

"Where did you guys go? You know, earlier." Ashley asked.

"I told you, that ice cream place." I sighed.

"So, like a date?" Lindsey raised her eyebrows at me in the mirror.

"No, not like a date at all. More like two friends getting ice cream." I answered, my eyes avoiding her gaze.

"Why can't you just tell him that you like him?" Lindsey pouted.

"Cause that's not how it works. You two know I'm basically incapable of telling guys how I feel about them. And besides, I don't like him that much." I muttered.

"We know, it's just that-" Ashley began.

"He's so perfect for you." Lindsey finished, adding in another sigh.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes but couldn't help my half-smile.

"So, what'd you get for dinner?" I asked, leaning forward to see the bag Lindsey was holding.

"Stuff for pizza." Lindsey replied.

"Ooh, fancy." I grinned.

We pulled into the boy's driveway and were greeted by Liam.

"They made me take the trash out." he shrugged.

"That's despicable." Ashley joked.

"Very." he nodded, smiling.

We headed inside and into their kitchen, which was on the first floor.

Harry and Niall appeared in the kitchen a few moments later.

"What'd you get?" Niall inquired.

"Pizza." I answered.

"Do you have to cook it?" he frowned.

"Mhm," I nodded.

"But I'm so hungry." he complained.

"You poor, poor soul." I teased.

He nodded in agreement and leaned his head on Harry's shoulder.

Harry stroked his head for a moment then asked "Do you need any help making it?"

"We only need, like, three people to make it." Lindsey said.

"I volunteer." I raised my hand up. I loved cooking and I didn't want to go upstairs where I was sure to be tormented by more "You and Niall" comments from the boys and my best friends.

"I will too." Lindsey stood beside me, as if we were going into war.

"Me too." Niall added.

Oh, fabulous. Just what I was trying to avoid.

"Right, let's get to work then." I leaned side to side. Between Ashley and Lindsey, Lindsey was the least likely to tease me about my little crush.

The pizza dough came in can so we just had to spread it out onto a baking sheet. Things started to get a little messy when we were putting the sauce on though.

"I'm so, so sorry." Niall apologized after he accidentally threw a spoonful of sauce onto my cheek.

"Oh, it's fine." I wiped the sauce off my cheek and smeared it onto is nose.

I gave him the brightest, most innocent smile I could muster and he raised the spoon threateningly.

"Don't you dare." I laughed.

"Watch me." he grinned back.

"Watch you what?" Lindsey returned into the kitchen with the cheese and then stared at our faces.

"He threw sauce at me." I laughed.

"On accident." he mumbled.

"You two are too much." she rolled her eyes and grinned.

"Gosh Niall, everything always gets so messed up when you're around." I nudged him playfully.

Example? My emotions.

Once we had put the sauce on without anymore accidents, along with the cheese, we put it in the oven.

"It'll take about ten minutes. We can set the timer on the stove and then head upstairs." Lindsey suggested.

"We might not hear it upstairs." I said. "I can watch it, you guys go ahead."

"You sure?" Lindsey asked.

"Totally." I leaned against the counter and nodded.

"Alright." Lindsey shrugged and bounded out the door and up the steps.

"You can go. I can make sure the pizza doesn't burn the house down." I smirked at Niall.

"Hey, if anything's burning down, it's happening while the both of us are around." he grinned.

"Just don't let Louis know." I laughed.

"Yeah, something tells me he wouldn't let us live that one down." he laughed too.

"Probably not." I smiled and was overcome with shyness.

I looked around, hoping to find something to talk about, but my mind had gone blank.

"Hey, didn't you say you had another best friend? Breanne or something?" he said, saving me from coming up with something to talk about.

"Brianna." I corrected. "She's a dancer."

"That's cool." he said politely.

"She's really pretty. She's trying to decide where she wants to go to college. I mean, she's an amazing dancer so there's like a bajillion schools that want her." I informed him.

"Sounds like she's got it all." he raised his eyebrows.

"Mhm." I nodded. "Family, friends, boyfriend, talent."

"What about Lindsey and Ashley? Any special talents?" he leaned his chin on his hand.

"Well, Lindsey really good at acting, and Ashley claims she doesn't want to be a teacher, but I'm almost certain that's what she wants to go to school for." I answered.

"But you're the only singer?" he asked, his eyes shining and his lips forming a smile.

"Yep." I sighed. Sometimes it was hard to talk to my friends about music. They'd nod and smile when I told them I loved a song but I knew they'd never understand the emotions behind. Maybe Niall was someone who would, who already did.

"Always have been, always will be. Unless Ashley decides musicals are more her thing." I beamed.

"I could never, ever see Ashley in musical." Niall returned the grin.

"Let's not put that thought in her head." I smirked.

I took a peek in the oven. The pizza looked almost ready.

"Hey, do you have any soda here or anything?" I asked, turning back to Niall.

"Oh, yeah. In the fridge." he answered.

I walked over to the fridge and grabbed a couple of cans out. A sharp ding alerted me that the pizza was done and I scampered back over to the oven.

"Careful!" Niall said as I reached my bare hand in to grab the tray. "That could have been bad." I grinned and grabbed an oven mitt.

Once we'd sliced the pizza up we let everyone know that dinner was ready.

"Thank goodness." Ashley sighed.

"Yeah, it took long enough." Harry said.

"Watch it Styles." I narrowed my eyes at him but he just flashed me a huge grin.

We all grabbed some food then headed back upstairs.

"Alex," Ashley patted the seat in between she and Niall. I sent her a disapproving look and turned to Lindsey.

"Linds, do you want to sit next to Ash?" I asked tentatively.

"No, I'm good." she plopped down next to Harry.

"Right. Okay." I sat down next to Ashley who gave me a gleeful grin.

"So, Finding Nemo or Monsters Inc?" Liam asked, holding up the two movies.

"Monsters Inc." I answered.

No one else answered so he shrugged and put Monsters Inc. in.

I was so tired from my rehearsal earlier in the day that by the time I had finished my pizza my eyelids were nearly shut.

"You okay?" Niall asked, nudging my arm.

"Hmm?" I asked sleepily, placing my plate on the table. "Yeah, just tired." I leaned back on the couch and was out.

When I woke up I had trouble realizing what was going on, I was so tired.

Ashley was laughing at something Zayn said and Monsters Inc was about an hour in.

And then it hit me in the face like a brick. My head was resting on Niall's shoulder.

I glanced up at his face. He took a swift look at me. "Hey sleepy head." he grinned softly at me.

"Meanie." I murmured but I was too comfortable and tired to move. Under any other circumstance I would have been out of there in under two seconds but I was so exhausted and Niall was so sweet and nice and I was asleep again before I knew it.

The next time I woke up was only about 30 minutes later. Ashley was pulling a blanket around me and I smiled at her. I admit, she was kind of the most amazing best friend ever. She smiled back and tucked the corners in around my chin.

"You should of woke me up. I would have moved." I whispered to Niall.

"It's alright." he gave me another startlingly adorable smile and slid his hand around my mine.

As much as I wanted to pull my hand back and run away, embarrassed and shy, I didn't. I didn't even move. I just lay there with my head on Niall's shoulder, his hand around mine until the movie was over.

"Hey, we should get going, huh?" Ashley nudged me as the credits rolled.

"Yeah." I sighed but made no effort to move. Ashley jumped off the couch and gave me a look. I groaned and sat up, letting go of Niall's hand, rather reluctantly.

"We'll see you guys later. Got to get sleeping beauty home." Lindsey smiled sweetly at everyone.

The girls led me out the car after we waved goodbye and somehow got me into the seat.

"Don't worry. It wasn't totally obvious that you and Niall were holding hands." Ashley whispered to me, grinning, as she snapped my seat belt closed.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey folks :) So, I sort of hit a dead end for a day or two with this one but I LOVE how it turned out. What about you? Do you think it's progressing well? Anyways, thanks to everyone that's been reading. I honestly had no clue that so many people would want to read this, even if you don't keep up with it or review or anything, thank you so so so so so much :)<strong>

**xoxo**

**Alex**


	10. Fortune Cookies

"Alex, dearest, wake up." Lindsey gave me a shake. "It's my last day."

"No," I whined.

She nodded sadly and pulled me up. After a quick shower I made my way downstairs in a lacy tank top, some jean cut offs and some pink corduroy flats.

"So, what's the agenda?" Ashley asked, leaning over a magazine.

I looked at the clock. 9:21.

"I've got two interviews but after that we could grab some lunch or something." I said as I grabbed a granola bar.

"What about a picnic in that park a couple streets down?" Ashley mused.

"Ooh, that sounds fun." I smiled and nodded. "You cool with that?"

Lindsey nodded and grinned back.

"Fabulous." I smiled and shot Joy a text that I was ready to go.

"Try not to have too much fun without me." I grinned at my girls and then headed out.

It was hard to concentrate on the interviews with so much on my mind, though. I mean, Lindsey was leaving tomorrow morning, not to mention the tour started tomorrow. Plus, Ashley would be leaving next week. And along with all that, I couldn't get Niall out of my head.

The first interview drifted by. The interviewer asked the same old questions and was excruciatingly boring, but the second one was quite fun.

The interviewer looked about 25 and was clearly gay.

"Ok, speed round." he said, giving me a quick smile.

"Shoot." I grinned back, reclining in the white lounge chair in his office.

"Favorite color?"

"Green."

"Beatles or Journey?"

"Both."

"Zebra or Koala?"

"Koala."

"Louis or Harry?"

"Louis."

"Ice cream or frozen yogurt?"

"Ice cream."

"Best friends or boyfriends?"

"Best friends."

"Zayn or Niall?"

"Niall."

My cheeks turned a slight crimson color and as he looked up to ask me the next question he caught a glimpse of them. It was out of my mouth before I realized it, but somehow I knew the guy (his name was Drew) wouldn't hold it against me.

"Mhm, I know how that is, girl." he gave me a knowing smile and read me off the remaining questions.

As I shook his hand before leaving he whispered in my ear "That part won't be included in the article."

"Thanks." I smiled softly and gave a quick wave before darting off.

* * *

><p>"God, it was awful." Alex said after she relayed what had happened during her second interview.<p>

"I can imagine." I grinned.

My phone gave a quick buzz.

_Hey there :)_

_Hi :)_ I sent back to Harry.

_What's up?_ he replied moments later.

_Lunch with Ash and Alex. You?_

_Wishing you were here ;) _I got back a few seconds later.

I grinned and hoped my face wasn't too red.

"What do you think, Lindsey?"

"Umm, yeah." I answered, not sure what Ashley had asked me.

"She wasn't listening." Alex raised an eyebrow at me.

"I was too." I lied.

"She's just too busy texting her lover. She hasn't any time left for us, Ash." Alex looked at Ashley with a half-frown on her face.

"Isn't it awful? We'll never be able to spend time with her again." Ashley let out a long exaggerated sigh.

"Oh, shut up you guys." I giggled.

"It's too late. We're already gone, out of your life forever." Alex collapsed backwards onto the blanket and managed to keep a straight face for several moments before bursting out into laughter.

Ashley joined in on the laughter and I couldn't refrain from chuckling too. How had I ended up with such crazy best friends?

_Ash and Alex will trade me over any day, I'm sure :) _I shot back to Harry.

_Hmm, that's not necessary. But I'd love to see you before you leave tomorrow. All of us go to the beach again tonight?_

"Hey, you guys. Would we be able to go to the beach again tonight?" I asked after Ashley and Alex had calmed down from laughing.

They looked at each other and then back at me. "Who's asking?" Ashley narrowed her eyes.

"Harry.." I mumbled, smiling.

"Hmm, we could make it work, I suppose." Alex rolled her sparkling brown eyes.

"Coolio bro." I grinned.

"One condition- Don't ever say that again." Ashley sighed and shot me a smile.

"Deal." I grinned back and sent Harry an answer.

_Sounds good :)_

* * *

><p>"Hey," Louis hollered from behind me.<p>

"Hi," I stepped out of the white room where we'd just finished up our photo shoot.

"Guess where we're going tonight?" he asked, giving me a sneaky grin.

"Where?" I sighed.

"To that beach. The one we went to a few weeks ago with the girls." he answered and I could see his grin getting bigger.

"Not with them tonight, though, right?" I could already feel myself getting a bit nervous. Alex and I had been so comfortable the other night, and I hadn't wanted her to leave.

"Well, of course with them." he rolled his eyes at me. "Hazza's got it all figured out. We're meeting them there at 8-ish."

With that he skipped off to inform Zayn and Liam of our newly acquired plans.

I leaned my head back and processed this new information. It was just another day with them. But after this, we'd be going on tour with Alex and I'd be seeing a _lot_ more of her. I couldn't decided whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

It was a bad thing. It was pretty obvious that she didn't like me. Who would? I wasn't that great looking and all I could do was sing, not even that well. She was probably just trying to be nice. That's what I'd been doing at first.. just trying to be nice..

No, it was a good thing. Alex was amazing. I couldn't seem to get her out of my head and every time she looked at me I got butterflies in my stomach.

It was hard to think about.

"You okay, mate?" Liam patted my shoulder.

"Fine." I grinned at him and tried to think of something else.

"So, you good with this whole beach thing?" he asked me.

"Yeah, it sounds fun." I answered, wondering if it really would be.

"Good." he looked suspicious but walked off, dialing someone's number and holding the phone close to his ear.

Would it be a good idea to text her? I didn't want to seem weird or anything.

I decided that it couldn't hurt.

_Who's bringing the food?_

She replied a few minutes later as we were getting into the car._ Hmm, I don't know. We can :) Chinese?_

I read her idea off to the other boys. They all agreed that it was fine._ Sure :)_

_Cool :) Seeya in a bit I guess?_ She answered back.

_Can't wait :P_

* * *

><p>"ASHLEY." I screamed as she walked away from the car. They'd locked me in the car because they didn't want me to order too much Chinese food. Now, I know what you're thinking. Why couldn't I just unlock the door? Well, unfortunately, the car only unlocks if you press a button on the keys. Guess who had the keys?<p>

I sighed and waited a few minutes for my friends to get back.

"You better have gotten something good." I muttered as Ashley unlocked the doors and got back in. "We did, don't worry."

"Hey, can I just see the keys real quick?" I asked, leaning forward.

"Why?" she held them out to me, slightly hesitant.

I grabbed them out of her hand and sprinted out of the car. "No reason." I giggled as I locked the doors.

Ashley and Lindsey gave me disgusted looks as I walked into the Chinese place.

I ordered a few things I wanted along with some things I guessed the boys would like.

"Alexandria." Ashley scolded when I finally got back in the car, keys gently secured in my hand.

"No need to thank me." I grinned and gestured to the bag of additional Chinese food.

Lindsey just rolled her eyes and laughed, clearly not pretending to be mad as Ashley was.

"Let's go." Lindsey said, plucking the keys out of my hand and giving them to Ashley. She started up the car and we were at the beach in no time.

"Hello!" Harry jumped out at us as soon as we'd made it out of the car. The sky was already dark around us and the stars were just popping out.

"Oh, hi there." I high-fived him and took the rather large amount of food down to the shore, where the boys were working on building a campfire.

"Alexandria!" Louis shouted, pulling me into a hug.

"Who on earth told you my full first name?" I giggled into his sleeve.

"Ashley, maybe." he grinned.

I shot him another smile then turned around right as the devil herself was walking down the hill.

"You told him my name." I stared at her.

She stopped dead in her tracks, her feet frozen to the ground, a smile locked on her lips. "Yup."

I carefully set the food down then turned back to where Ashley stood. We both took off at the same time, my feet reaching her in less than twenty seconds.

"Alex, I didn't mean to." she laughed as I tickled her neck.

"Sure you didn't." I grinned.

"I didn't, I swear. HELP!" she said in between laughs.

Someone gently grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

"You're going to go off to tickle her before you even say hi to me?" Niall pulled me around to face him.

"Thank you." Ashley breathed a sigh of relief and made her way back over to the others.

"Hi," I gave a shy wave accompanied by an even shyer smile. He gave me a smile back and started to walk back towards the others. I walked next to him, wondering how I, of all people, had managed to get stuck in this situation.

"So, how did you like the movie a few nights ago?" he gave me a cocky grin.

"It was good." I blushed a bit as I remembered that evening.

"We all think it's good that Alex has finally found a boy who can put up with her incessant drooling and sleep talking." Ashley gave my shoulder a pat.

I shot her a death glare but Niall just giggled.

"One day til the tour." Harry said, turning towards me.

"Don't remind me." I half-smiled but I was filled with an uneasy feeling.

"You'll be fine." Liam grinned.

"I hope so." I breathed out.

"I know so." Lindsey gave me a reassuring grin. "You know, unless you trip on stage and break your neck."

I raised my eyebrows and refrained from laughing. "Gee, thanks. I'm going to have something to eat, if you guys don't mind."

"Ooh, me too." Niall said excitedly.

Soon enough, everyone was sitting around the campfire, eating Chinese food. Typical day.

"We should play truth or dare." Louis shot me a rather evil grin.

Oh, help me Lord.

"I think I'll skip that.." I began.

"Nope, everyone has to play." Louis smirked.

"You can't force me to play." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, come on Alex." Ashley pouted at me.

This definitely _wasn't_ what best friends are for.

"Fine." I sighed.

"Okay, I'll start." Louis said. "Harry, truth or dare?"

"Dare." Harry grinned.

"Hmm, you have to pick one of the girls to kiss on the cheek." Louis gave an innocent grin.

Harry looked a little embarrassed but didn't hesitate to peck Lindsey on the cheek.

"Okay," Harry said, deciding who he wanted to ask. "Ashley, truth or dare?"

Ashley and Harry seemed like brother and sister sometimes. One moment they were laughing and joking and the next they'd be sending each other death glares.

"Truth." Ashley said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Do you fancy Zayn?" Harry asked, his smile slightly evil.

"Well, um.." Ashley mumbled.

"Guys, we forgot about the fortune cookies!" I basically shouted, saving Ashley from an extremely awkward situation.

"Oh, yeah." Lindsey nodded her head vigorously, assisting in Ashley's rescue.

I searched through the bag and then tossed one to everyone. "Thanks." Ashley mouthed to me. I smiled back, happy to help her out.

I opened my cookie and read the fortune.

_All you need to be happy is standing right in front of you._

I looked up right as Niall stood up. Our eyes met and he grinned shyly at me. Stupid fortune cookie.

Lindsey leaned over my shoulder and read my fortune then looked up at where Niall was talking to Liam.

"Seems pretty accurate." she winked.

"Shut up." I giggled. "Hey," I bounced up from my seat on the sand. "Is my radio still in the car?"

"I think.." Lindsey. "Do you want me to check?"

"Nah, I can go." I answered.

"Where are you going?" Niall asked, turning to face me.

"Just to our car." I shove the fortune in my pocket. "Wanna come? I'm on an epic search for my battery powered radio."

"Sure," he smiled. "Race you?"

"Um, if by race you, you mean lose to you, then yes." I grinned and took off.

This time he wasn't far behind me, but I still won.

"That's not fair," he whined. Why was he so adorable?

"Um, it's totally fair." I grinned.

"I think you should have become a world renowned sprinter instead of a singer." he teased.

"But I never would have met you guys." I raised my eyebrows.

"That's true. I'm glad we met." he looked a little embarrassed.

"Me too." I said before I could stop myself.

We just stared at each other for a few seconds before I remembered why we were there.

"Um, okay, radio." I said as I unlocked doors and searched in the car.

"Ah, there you are." I pulled out the baby blue radio that I'd gotten when I was 13.

"Isn't it cute?" I asked, holding up the radio so Niall could see.

He laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Hey, I'm going to get my guitar too. Wait here, alright?" he said, walking backwards towards Harry's car.

I nodded and fiddled with my radio. Did he, you know, like me? _I'm glad we met. _Why couldn't boys just be straightforward? Well, I guess I wasn't exactly being straightforward either.

"Hey, you okay?" Niall asked, holding his guitar in one hand and placing the other one on my shoulder.

"Yeah," I stood up and he pulled his hand back. "I was just zoning out. Kind of nervous for tomorrow, I guess."

"Why? It'll be fun, and you'll be amazing." he set down his guitar and pulled me into a hug.

"Um, yeah. You're right." I said, trying to sound hopeful as he let go.

That was rather unexpected.

We walked back down to the campfire where everyone was telling scary stories.

"Guys, we're gonna have a sing-a-long." I grinned.

"Woo!" Liam said.

I laughed and sat back down on the sand. I looked up at the night sky where the moon hung, half of it glowing down on us.

We sang a bunch of songs and when we all got too tired to sing we turned on my radio.

"It's blue!" Zayn exclaimed.

"I know," I smiled. "Blue's my second favorite color."

"Green's her first." Niall grinned at me.

I nodded and attempted to not..fall...asleep.

I woke up abruptly. When had I fallen asleep? Oh, gosh. I was leaning against Niall. Again.

"Sorry," I whispered. It looked like Liam, Lindsey, Louis and Ashley had all fallen asleep as well, but the radio was still playing and Zayn and Harry were playing some card game.

"It's alright. I'm glad I make such a good pillow." Niall gave me a sweet smile.

I rolled my eyes and let out a yawn.

"You can go back to sleep if you want." he slipped his hand into mine.

"No, I'm fine," I tried not to yawn anymore.

"Seriously, you should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow, remember?" he tried to persuade me.

"Fine," I mumbled, leaning my head on his shoulder and drifting back to sleep.

"Hey," Niall said softly. "Ashley and Lindsey are gonna take you home."

"Hmmm?" I said, my eyelids fluttering open. "Oh," I comprehended what he'd said.

He stood up and took my other hand and pulled me up. "You alright?" he grinned softly.

"Yeah, just really, really tired." I said, ready to fall back to sleep any moment.

He walked me to the car where Ashley and Lindsey were waiting.

"Why am I the only one who's tired?" I said quietly, waking up a tiny bit more.

"Because there was sleeping pill's in your food, silly." Ashley joked.

Niall grinned.

"See you tomorrow." he let go of my hand and went over to the boy's car.

I opened the car door and fell asleep before Lindsey and Ashley could get a word out of me.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the delay :P I've been so busy with school wrapping up and I also came to a dead end with this one, so I'm not really pleased with how it turned out, but whatever.<strong>

**Anyways, hope you all liked it and I promise to update sooner after this :)**

**Review if you have a bit of time and tell me how you liked it or didn't like it.**

**xoxo**

**Alex**


	11. Holy Ice Cream Party!

"No!" I pouted as Lindsey dragged her suitcase out of my car.

"I know." Lindsey whined. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"We'll all have to hang out during the summer." Ashley said, a slight frown on her face.

"Yeah." I said and I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey, no crying." Lindsey pulled me into a hug. "We'll be hear for you. Besides, Ashley's still here for the first week."

"But I'll miss you. What if I do horrible? I won't have my best friends there to point and laugh." I tried to joke but a few tears began to fall down my cheek and off my chin.

"Gosh Alex. Louis will be there, remember?" Lindsey gave a small smile and wiped the tears off my face with her sleeve.

"And if you're horrible this week, I can do the honors right beside him." Ashley said to me before attacking Lindsey in a hug.

Oh, how I would miss these girls.

Lindsey gave a few more goodbyes and then took off into the airport. Ashley and I drove home, where we got ready for the day.

I didn't do much, only taking enough time to straighten my hair. The stylists would change my clothes repeatedly, but if my hair was decent enough they might leave it alone.

My phone buzzed at the same time that Joy's unmistakable car honked.

"Bye! I'll see you later tonight." Ashley gave a quick wave as I rushed out the door.

Once in Joy's car I checked my phone.

_Hey :) You excited?_

It'd be great if this boy allowed me to not fall for him anymore.

_Um, more like nervous enough to puke my guts out :p _I texted Niall back.

_Eww, try to avoid my shoes ;)_

_Heyyy, I'm serious. I'm pretty nervous. I've never done a tour. Especially with a group as good as you guys_

"Who are you texting?" Joy asked. "Uh, Niall." I replied. She gave me a look. "What?" I asked. "You like him." she giggled. "I do not." I replied. "Please Alex, the blush says it all." I shifted in my seat, hoping the crimson in my cheeks would die down. "It's fine. I won't tell your publicist about this." she winked.

I sighed and opened up his text.

_You'll be amazing as usual, don't worry :)_

A small smile made its way onto my face and I felt a million times better. Funny how fans can tell you you're amazing everyday and it doesn't make a difference, but just hearing it from that one person makes you feel on top of the world.

_You will be too :)_

We pulled into the arena parking lot, the place we'd be kicking off our tour. Well, not the actual parking lot, but you know what I mean.

Joy led me inside and, as expected, the stylists tackled me as soon as I set foot in the building.

Adriana, my hairdresser, was just flattening out a few waves that had managed to work their way into my hair when the door burst open.

"Hey." Harry grinned, an equally smiley Louis standing beside him.

"Hi." I smiled back.

"Just wanted to say good luck!" Louis bounced up and down.

"Thanks." I giggled. "You too."

"Well, we have to get back before we get yelled at." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Okay, seeya!" I smiled.

"Bye!" they said in unison then dashed off.

I couldn't help but smile as I opened twitter on my phone. I started typing.

_Sure to be the best tour ever :) Hope all of you can make it!_

I put my phone on the table next to me and after I put into a pair a pair of white jeans and a blue flowery tank top, I took my place backstage, waiting to go on.

I closed my eyes for a moment and listened to the boys singing Up All Night.

When I opened them up again they were passing me and giving me exaggerated thumbs up. Louis stuck his tongue out and Niall shot me an adorable smile.

I took a deep breath and went out onto the stage. I could barely hear over the crowd, but I managed. The songs flew by and before I knew it the concert was nearly over.

"So," I grinned at the audience. "I'd just like to thank all of you for coming out tonight. And can we hear it for the boys in One Direction one more time?"

Everyone screamed and I smiled and scurried off the stage after thanking everyone again and waving goodbye.

Okay, so definitely nothing to worry about. I didn't break my neck as Lindsey had suggested.

After the concert I went to the hotel where Ashley was waiting.

"How was it?" she asked when I plopped down on the bed I'd claimed for myself.

"Fun." I grinned.

"You know, the boys are only a floor above us." she smiled.

I rolled my eyes. "Ash, they're probably just as tired as I am."

"I don't know about that. They already called our room seven times." she smirked.

"Seven times?" I began to giggle.

She nodded and after dialing the phone on the table next to the bed, handed the receiver to me.

"Hello?" Harry picked up.

"Hey." I grinned at Ashley's ecstatic face.

"Oh, hi. Ashley passed on our message, I'm guessing?" Harry asked.

"No.. She only mentioned that you called seven times." I scrunched up my eyebrows.

"Oh, well we're having an ice cream sundae party and-"

Louis' voice took over. "And the only way we're letting you in is if you wear you're most formal pajamas."

I laughed. "Okay, we'll be up in five minutes."

Louis gave me their room number and after changing into our pajamas Ashley and I headed for the elevator.

She had put on a pink cami and a pair of neon green pajama pants. I, being the secret nerd I was, was wearing a Spongebob shirt and gray shorts.

"You okay?" Ashley asked. I yawned in response. "Yes, but why is performing so exhausting?"

I rubbed my eyes and she laughed. "I have no idea. Maybe because your sucking in all that air and none of it ever reaches your brain, you just sing it all out."

"That doesn't even make sense." I laughed. "Why on earth would that make me tired?"

The elevator dinged and the doors clicked open.

We walked down the hall until we reached their room.

"Ello!" Louis grinned as he opened the door, moments after we'd knocked.

"Hi." Ashley shot a grin back.

"Come on in. We're just cleaning up because Niall spilled all of the sprinkles on the floor." he led us in.

"It wasn't my fault." Niall shouted from the other room. "Zayn actually did it."

I grinned and shook my head.

Louis steered us into the kitchen where Liam was sweeping up sprinkles and Zayn and Harry were arguing over who got the whip cream first.

Ashley grabbed a bowl and handed me one. I looked over the ice cream options.

"Hey, I told them to get mint chocolate chip just for you." Niall grinned as he walked up behind me.

"Thanks." I smiled.

After I piled on an excessive amount of cool whip, sprinkles, fudge, and pretzels onto my ice cream I settled down in the living room.

Ashley sat down next to me.

Harry followed in after her, carefully tugging at my bun before sitting down on the couch opposite us.

"ZAYN. Come sit with your lover!" Harry hollered.

I looked at the four all-white couches and wondered how long they'd stay that way, clean and spotless.

"Oops." Harry had just dropped a spoonful of chocolate ice cream.

Apparently not too long.

"Emergency!" I teased as I ran into the kitchen to get some paper towels.

"Here you go." I handed them to the curly haired boy and noticed that after Zayn had sat down Ashley'd moved.

"Thanks Ashley. I feel so loved." I patted her empty spot.

"Don't worry Alex, Niall loves you." Louis patted my head as Niall sat down in Ashley's old spot.

Niall and I exchanged an awkward look and Louis just giggled.

He shut up when I shot him a disapproving glare.

Everyone was indeed wearing pajamas.

Harry's was the best because it was a onesie covered in rocket ships. After a few minutes I convinced him to let me take a picture of him and send it to Lindsey.

Everyone else was just in either pajama pants or sweatpants and a tee shirt.

_Adorable :) _Lindsey texted back a few minutes after I'd sent her Harry's picture.

I mentally gagged and slid my phone in my pocket.

I guess I was zoning out cause I jumped when Niall nudged me.

"You sounded really great." he smiled.

"Oh, thanks you too." I grinned back shyly.

"Was it as bad as you thought it'd be?" he asked.

"No, it was a lot of fun actually." I took a bite of my ice cream.

He nodded and my phone began to ring.

I took it out of my pocket and answered it.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey!" Rena practically screamed.

"Hi," I laughed.

Niall raised his eyebrows at me.

"So, how was the first concert?" she yelled.

"It was great. Why are you shouting, Re?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Why are you shouting?" I shouted myself.

"Oh, sorry, I'm visiting mom. I'm at the airport."

"Oh, well say hi for me."

Louis must have told an exceptionally funny joke because everyone started laughing.

"How bout you? Where are you?" she tried to ask casually but I could basically see her trying to evaluate the situation.

"Just with the One Direction guys." I sighed, waiting for the lecture.

"Oh," she said softly.

"We're having ice cream." I assured her.

"Okay." she said, a little less unsure.

"Alex!" Ashley cried out as Zayn tickled her.

"Um, just a second sis." I grinned. "Here, talk to my friend Niall."

I handed the phone over to Niall and went over to help Ashley.

* * *

><p>"Hello?" I took Alex's phone and held it up to my ear.<p>

"Um, hello? I'm Alex's sister, Rena." the girl said.

"Oh, hello!" I smiled. I never knew Alex had a sister.

"Is everything okay? Why did Alex have to go?"

"Oh, one of the lads is tickling her friend Ashley and she's helping her." I explained. She sounded a bit worried, like we might be doing something wrong.

"Alright." she breathed out. "So, where are you from? I can't really tell from your accent."

"Ireland." I grinned at the question I got all the time.

"Oh, that's interesting." she said.

"Mhm." I watched as Alex tried convince Zayn and Harry, who had assisted him in tickling Ashley, that tickling people was wrong. She looked so cute when she was pretending to be angry.

"So, none of you are interested in Alex, right?" she asked.

"No." I said quickly.

"It's you, isn't it?" she sighed and I heard her laugh a bit.

"No, no. I don't..I mean-"

"It's fine. You seem like a good kid." she laughed more fully this time. "Just be careful. Alex is kind of crazy and fragile, all at the same time."

"Thanks, but-"

She cut me off again. "Just ask her out, for God's sake. I bet she likes you back. She probably fell for you just because of your accent."

"Um, well, here's Alex." I pushed the phone into Alex's hands as she sat back down on the couch.

She raised her eyebrows and began talking to her sister again.

"Yeah, he's silly." she grinned at me and I returned the smile.

"Wait, what?" she looked confused.

"Oh, I don't think so." she blushed and grinned.

I hope her sister hadn't told her what we'd been talking about, but judging by Alex's blush...

"Whatever." Alex rolled her eyes, the blush in her cheeks dying down. "Okay, love you too. Bye!"

"What'd she say?" I asked as I rested my feet on the coffee table.

"Nothing. She just said...nothing." Alex mumbled and stared at her nearly empty ice cream bowl.

Everyone had sort of quieted down.

"What do you want to do?" Ashley asked.

"We should have another movie night." Liam said as he walked into the room.

"As long as it's not a Disney movie." Harry muttered.

Liam looked a bit hurt for a moment, but a smile reappeared on his face again in no time. "Pixar it is!"

We ended up voting on The Incredibles, seeing as we had no other Pixar movies on hand.

Harry tossed me a blanket as he walked over to the wall and clicked the lights off.

I looked over at Alex as her sister's words echoed in my head.

_I bet she likes you back._

* * *

><p>Niall looked over at me as the movie opened up. I smiled and gave a stupid wave. He giggled and looked back at the TV.<p>

Zayn had wrapped his arm around Ashley's shoulders and she looked like she might explode from sheer happiness.

Harry and Louis were cuddling on the couch beside me and Liam was intently watching the movie.

I looked over to see what Niall was doing. He looked up at me right at the moment. We grinned at each other.

Okay, he was officially too cute.

I broke eye contact and stood up, going into the kitchen to get seconds.

"Hello." Niall bumped my shoulder with his as I plopped a spoonful of cool whip onto my ice cream.

"Hey." I looked up into his blue eyes.

"I just wanted to tell you.." he began.

"Yeah?" I asked, wondering where on earth this could be going.

He ran a hand through his blonde hair and I tried not to find it extremely attractive.

"Uh, you know how I said you sounded great at the concert earlier?" he asked.

"Mhm." I smiled softly. "You liar. I sounded, well, normal."

"No, see, that's what I'm trying to tell you. You sounded _amazing_." he quickly kissed my cheek and then looked at me, waiting for some kind of reaction.

And for a second, I believed him. I bet I did sound amazing. I bet I sounded fabulous. It didn't matter because he looked so adorable, looking all embarrassed and flustered.

My eyes locked on his. "My sister might have been right." I said under my breath.

"What?"

"I said, you're the sweetest guy I've ever met."

He gave me a smile full of relief and I couldn't help but grin back.

"Um, we should probably get back to the movie." I giggled.

"I don't know. It seems more exciting in here." he teased.

"Creep." I laughed and strolled into the living room, my ice cream no longer the best part of the evening.

I sat down and Niall followed behind me.

He offered me half the blanket Harry had given him and I gladly accepted it. It was blue and smelled like laundry detergent.

After I finished my ice cream I tried to concentrate on the movie but Niall kept taking my hand and occasionally poking me in the side.

Once when he poked my stomach I let out a really loud laugh.

"Stop canoodling!" Louis screamed.

This just caused me to laugh more.

When the movie finished I was reluctant to leave but I knew that we all had an early morning the next day.

"You ready Alex?" Ashley asked me, getting up from her spot next to Zayn and stretching her arms.

"Mhm, lemme just put my bowl in the sink."

"I'll go with you." Niall bounced up.

We walked to the kitchen and I put my bowl in the sink, as I said I would.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, I guess you will." he said as he pulled me into a hug.

I ruffled his hair and grinned. "Seeya!"

"Bye!" he yelled as I ran into the living room, pausing only to shout goodbye to the others and to grab Ashley's wrist.

So, all in all, it was a pretty great way to begin a tour.

And the butterflies in my belly were back. Again.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys :) So summer vacation's here for me and I'll admit, a few of your reviews really got me pumped to write this chapter :) Shout out to Wecouldmakeityouknow (go read her 1D fanfic, it's amazing :D) because she's been motivating me all nighttt! Okay, soo this chapter started out sucky, but I love how it finished :) Tell me what you guys think? Thanks! Hope you like it :)<strong>

**xoxo**

**Alex**


	12. Secret Hand Holding

The rest of the first week sort of passed in no time. After the concerts I'd crash in my hotel room and talk to Ashley unless she was hanging out with the boys. Other times I'd talk on the phone with my sister or Lindsey.

Saturday came a bit too fast though.

"Having to do this two times in one week is really tolling." I mumbled as I pulled up to the airport, Ashley in the passenger seat.

"Gosh, Alex. I'm going to miss your constant complaining." Ashley grinned and I hit her shoulder.

"Be nice." I laughed.

I got out of the car, pulling one of her suitcases along.

"Seeya kiddo." I hugged her.

"Bye." she said back.

"Don't get into any trouble." she reminded.

"Me? Trouble? We're not exactly constant companions, Ash." I grinned.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, but I saw the smile on her face.

"Whatever. Call me soon!" she raised her eyebrows and with that she was gone.

I got back into the car and started up the engine right as my phone began to ring.

I sighed. "Who could possibly be calling now?"

"Hello?" I answered grumpily once I had located my phone and managed to find my way out of the airport.

"Um, hi?" an Irish voice said hesitantly

"Oh, hi. Sorry." I mumbled.

"It's okay. Are you alright? You sound kind of-"

"I just took Ashley to the airport." I sighed again.

"Oh. Well, Harry and I are at our new hotel, if you wanted to come by. Maybe we could cheer you up a bit."

I rolled the idea over in my head. "Hmm, okay."

"Alright, I'll see you soon. I'll have Harry text you the address."

* * *

><p>I knocked on their door and Niall opened it a minute later.<p>

"You look nice." he grinned at me.

I looked down at my orange button up shirt, the cuffs rolled up to tee-shirt length, and dark jean capris with white sneakers.

"Thanks?" I raised my eyebrows at him. "You do too." And he really did. He was wearing khaki shorts and a fitted light blue tee shirt. His hair was a little messed up and his smile was about to kill me on the spot.

"Thank you." he raised his eyebrows back and led me inside.

"Alex!" Harry tackled me as soon as I walked in.

"Harry!" I grinned.

Okay, so coming over _was_ a good idea. I didn't feel half as bad anymore.

"I think they have a TV in the living room." Harry said, leading to the living room.

"Yup. And look you have a Wii!" I grinned, attacking the box of games that sat beside the controller.

"Look! They have Mario Kart!" A huge grin flashed across my face.

"So?" Niall asked, walking into the room and sitting next to Harry on the beige couch.

"So?" I asked back. "Uh, Mario Kart's like the best game in the whole world." I rolled my eyes.

"So, I'm guessing you want to play it." Harry grinned.

"Nice work, Sherlock." I laughed and grabbed three controllers.

It turns out that that Harry and Niall pretty much sucked at Mario Kart.

Well, Niall got better as we played different courses, but Harry kept coming in dead last each time. It was rather ironic because he was the one guy in the band that knew how to drive.

"Wow, look at that. I got first again." I teased.

"No need to brag." Harry glared at me.

"It's not bragging if it's true." Niall said.

"Thank you, Niall." I glared right back at Harry, but couldn't hold it more than two seconds before I started laughing.

"But you know, Alex, I am going to eventually beat you." Niall gave me a really serious look.

"Oh please." I grinned at him.

"I got in fourth that time." he pouted.

A sharp knock came from the door.

"Whatever." I laughed. "I'm paying for this."

I pulled my wallet out of my pocket and ran for the door.

"I've got it." Niall yelled, still in the living room.

I shuffled up to the door and yanked it open.

"Surprise! Hey, you're not Niall." an unfamiliar face sneered at me.

The girl that stood in front of me was not holding a freshly baked pizza, and even if she was, I'm not sure how far she'd get with that attitude.

Her blonde hair was somewhere between shoulder length and chin length and was a bit layered, filled with brown highlights. She had bright green eyes and a really rich tan and she was dressed in black short-shorts and a pink Hollister top over a white cami. Her accent was as Irish as Niall's but her face held displeasure and annoyance as she scanned me over.

"No, he's uh," I began.

"Alex, if you already payed I'm going to-" Niall bounded up to where I stood and put his hand on my shoulder, while my hand remained numb on the doorknob.

"Meghan?" he cocked his head to the side.

The girl's sneer instantly disappeared and her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Niall! Hi!"

She pushed her away around me and gave him a huge hug.

"Um, I'll be right back. I left my phone in my car." I said, looking at the suddenly interesting tan carpeting and scooting out the door and down the hall.

The truth was that my phone was in my back pocket, but I felt like I was going to-

"Ashley?" I said into the phone, as I stood in the hotel parking lot. "I know you're probably still on the plane, but it's just. Well, um, just call me back when you get this."

The next person I dialed was Lindsey.

_Hi, sorry I can't get to the phone right now, but leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can._

"Lindsey, it's me. Listen, I know you're at school, so just call me back when you get a chance. It's about Niall. Well, it's sort of about Niall. Anyways, I could just use someone to talk to." I sighed. "I guess I'll have to settle for Harry until your school's done for the day. Not that he's that bad of a listener. Okay, love you darling. Don't watch Doctor Who without me." I mumbled some of our inside jokes into the speaker and hung up.

I slowly made my way back up to the apartment. When I walked into the living room I noticed that Harry had switched couches and the girl, Meghan, had chosen to sit next to Niall. Extremely close to Niall, actually.

"You okay?" Harry whispered as I sat down. I nodded and gave a small smile. Who knows? Maybe this girl wasn't as bad as I was imagining she'd be.

"So, Alex, huh?" Meghan asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Yep. That's me." I said.

"And you're touring with these lads?" she asked, looking particularly bored.

I nodded. "The tour started about a week ago and-"

"Well, I'm sure you'll have a ton of luck with that."

"Yeah." I leaned back and glanced at Harry out of the corner of my eye. He looked like the second most likely person in the room to shoot this chick.

I didn't even dare to look at Niall.

A knock at the door spared me from another pointless conversation.

I walked to the door and opened it up.

"Pizza?" the guy asked, his eyes tired and bored.

"Yep, that's us." I handed over the money and brought the pizza into the tiny kitchen.

"Hey, do you need help?" Niall said behind me.

"It's just pizza." I said, taking great to not to look at him as I walked by with a slice in my hand.

He grabbed my wrist and stopped me though.

"It's nothing." He whispered as pushed a piece of hair behind my ear.

His hand stayed where it was for a few more seconds, long enough for Meghan to catch a glimpse as she walked into the kitchen.

I walked back into the living room, passing Harry on the way. I picked up the controllers that were on the couches and put them by the box of games. As I stood up and turned around, I found myself face to face with Meghan.

"Listen, I came here for one reason." she hissed.

"I don't know what you mean." I mumbled.

"You should watch where you step, and keep your distance from Niall." She took the piece of pizza on her place and smeared it down my shirt, leaving a trail of sauce and grease.

I stared at her wordlessly and she put the pizza back on her plate right as Harry walked in.

"What on earth happened to you?"

Niall walked in after him, wearing the same shocked expression as Harry.

"I just, dropped my pizza." I said, feeling like an idiot. "Um, is there a bathroom?" I asked.

"Come on." Harry sighed and lead me to the bathroom off his room.

He tossed me a gray shirt and gave me a knowing look. "So, what really happened?"

"She just, well, smeared her pizza on my shirt." I said, holding his soft shirt in my hands.

"Go change and then you can explain everything."

I did as he said and changed in the bathroom.

When I got out of the bathroom Harry was sitting on the bed.

He patted the seat beside him.

"So, she threw pizza at you?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

"Yes." I nodded slowly and all of a sudden I started laughing.

"Are you okay?" Harry giggled.

"Yes, I'm-" my laughter died down. "Well, I'm.."

He looked at me for an answer.

"Not really fine, I guess." I sighed and flopped back onto one of the pillows.

"Is it the pizza thing or...?"

"No, it's just that she said.. Well, she said to stay away from Niall and, well, I mean.." I fumbled for the right words.

"You like him." Harry said bluntly.

"Yes." I let out what seemed to be the hundredth sigh that day.

"You should tell him." He said.

"But what if he had a thing with this girl? I should at least give her today with him, and I doubt he likes me back anyway."

"Are you kidding me?" Harry hit me lightly in the side of the head with a pillow.

"He talks about you all the bloody time."

I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah right." I giggled.

"It's true." Harry grinned at me and stood up, offering his hand to help me up.

"Whatever." I smiled. "Well, how do I look?" I peered in the mirror, admiring the fact that the light gray made me look a bit tanner.

"Like me." Harry said.

"Oh dear. I need to find a new shirt as soon as possible." I teased.

We walked back into the living room as Meghan was going over why she'd come to visit.

"Anyways, I was talking to your mum and she said you'd asked how I was doing and I thought I'd come and tell you how wonderful I am. _Especially_ after I saw you today." She gushed.

Oh gosh, I thought I was going to vomit after every word.

"Oh, you're back." Meghan looked at Harry and I. "I guess you guys are a couple, hmm?"

"Oh no. I rather fancy her friend." Harry said calmly. "She's more into blondes anyways."

I would kill that boy someday.

"Oh, really?" She raised her eyebrows at me. "Well, I was just telling Niall how I think we'd make the perfect couple."

Harry leaned in and looked Meghan right in the eye. "I've always sort of fancied Niall going out with Alex."

He was a dead man.

Niall and I looked at each other and then he _smiled._ The stupid boy smiled at me. What?

"I don't see it." Meghan said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"No? Maybe it's just me." Harry leaned back against the sofa. "It's just that they're always holding hands when they think we're not looking and giving each other these meaningful looks."

Oh jeez.

I studied my fingernails carefully as I waited for a bomb to go off.

A few moments of silence drifted by and I couldn't stand it any longer.

"I'm going to get a glass of water." I stood up and made my way into the kitchen.

I rummaged through the cabinets and pulled out a glass cup and filled it at the sink. I set it down on the table and pulled out my phone to check for any messages from Lindsey or Ashley.

"You think you're so clever, don't you?" Meghan snatched my phone out of my hands.

"I swear, I didn't tell him to say any of that stuff." I said, watching as she tapped my phone against the counter.

"What do I need to do to make you see that Niall's mine?" she held my phone over the glass of water.

"No, please don't." I said. I admit, I had a small obsession with my phone.

"Is that Alex's phone?" Niall asked from the doorway.

"What?" Meghan jumped, her cheeks turning bright red. "No, it's mine."

"No, that's Alex's." Niall said, carefully taking the phone from her.

"See, all the texts I send her." He scrolled through the messages under his name.

"I was just looking at it-" Meghan began.

"Over a glass of water?" He asked, handing me my phone.

"I, um, I.."

"I think you should go." Niall said slowly.

"But I came to visit you." She said in a small voice.

"And that was very thoughtful of you, but I really think you should go now. Alex and I are scheduled to secretly hold hands in five minutes." Niall elbowed me and grinned.

Meghan looked like she was going to break down on the spot.

"Harry, would you mind walking Meghan down to the lobby?" Niall called out.

"Don't bother." She huffed and walked out, careful to slam the door behind her.

"I told you it was nothing." Niall smiled at me.

I felt like crying. And then I did.

"What? Why are you-?" Niall looked really confused as he pulled me into a hug.

He seemed even more confused when I started giggling and hiccuping at the same time.

"You're really weird." He kissed me on the top of my head.

I grinned shyly as he let go and stared at me.

"Really weird in a good way though." He grinned back and looped his hand in mine.

"Hazza, don't look at us! We're holding hands while you're not looking!" He giggled.

* * *

><p><strong>As I'd say on tumblr - #holy good mother of everything that is real and true<strong>

**WHAT EVEN LIKE HAPPENED? Who typed this because it was certainly not I. Anywaysss, lovely chapter for me to write and I feel like the ending was just mvomgohmoamfoiewmcos fangirl feels.**

**So, yeah. Um, I liked writing this chapter because Alex and Harry really bonded as friends and such and then there was the fun character of Meghan to write in :)**

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**xoxo**

**Alex**


	13. Rena

Time really flew by while I was on tour. I barely had time to do anything but sing and sleep.

"Alex!" Lindsey practically screamed at me through my computer screen.

I gave a wave and giggled as Ashley rolled her eyes.

Ashley had been home for about two weeks and was finishing up her senior year there, instead of in L.A.

"How's life?" I asked, flopping back on my bed.

"Boring." Ashley said.

"Yes, very, very boring." Lindsey nodded in agreement.

"But it certainly must not be boring for you." Linds added quickly.

"Uh, no, just extremely tiring." I grinned.

"I think you mean amazing. You're constantly surrounded by adoring fans and five of the most gorgeous guys on the planet. You poor soul." Lindsey winked.

I laughed and we chatted a bit more until I was too sleepy to talk anymore.

"Only two weeks til' you're here." Ashley said before I clicked out.

"I know. We're still having a sleepover, right?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Mhm." my friends chimed in unison.

We'd planned that on May 1rst, Lindsey, Ashley, my other best friend Brianna, and I would have a sleepover.

"Great. Love you guys!" I clicked out of the window and fell asleep in minutes.

* * *

><p>April 25th. Only a few more days until we were in Baltimore.<p>

_Buzz buzz._ "Hello?" I picked up my phone.

"Hey!" Joy greeted me.

"Hi." I smiled and leaned back in the cab I was in.

"Hey, would you want to do a song with the boys a couple nights this week?" she asked.

"Sure. We'll have to rehearse together then, huh?" I said.

"Mhm. I think we've decided that you'll join them for I Want and One Thing."

I grinned. It's almost as if they'd asked me what two of my favorite songs off the album were.

"Right. Send me the rehearsal times, please."

"On it." she replied and hung up.

The assorted times for rehearsals arrived a few moments later.

"Great." I grinned, half at the message and half because we'd finally gotten to the next concert destination.

* * *

><p>"Only two more days." I grinned into my phone.<p>

"I know! I'm so excited to see you, sis." Rena squealed.

Oh, sometimes she acted _exactly_ like a 17 year old.

"Same here." I smiled and turned right as a stage director was trying to motion for me to get on stage.

"Sorry, I'm at a rehearsal. Text me later with the place we're catching lunch at."

"Okay, bye!"

I shoved my phone into my pocket and scrambled into place onto the stage.

"Preoccupied?" Harry smiled from his spot to the left of me.

"Just with my sister. No big deal." I smiled.

We went through the songs like we had been for the past two days and then I'd go back to whatever hotel we were staying at while they practiced their other songs. I had individual rehearsals before our mixed rehearsal, which was probably for the best considering the boys had trouble getting up earlier in the morning.

This had basically been my life, repeating over and over again, for almost a month.

That night I plopped down on my bed and was about to dial Lindsey's number when there was a soft knock on my hotel door.

I walked over to the door, still in my coral shorts and a white off the shoulder top, and opened it.

No one was there but a tiny white note sat on the ground.

I rolled my eyes and picked it up, opening up the multiple folds.

_We're playing Mario Kart. Ready to lose? x Harry_

I checked my watch. Only 8:30. I had a couple of hours to spare.

I walked towards the elevator and wondered what had possessed them to try to play Mario Kart again.

_Ding._

The elevator doors opened and I stepped inside. A jazz song echoed in my ears as I traveled up.

_Ding._

I strolled down the hall and knocked on the boys door.

"Hiya!" Louis yanked open the door.

I gave a wave. "Harry realizes I'm sort of amazing at Mario Kart, right?"

I stepped inside and Louis closed the door behind me. "Mario Kart?" he cocked his head to the side.

"Harry told me that he wanted you to try a cake he made."

"He told me that he was making you a sweater." Liam said, sitting on the couch with his laptop, probably on twitter.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I'm here, anyways."

"Yay!" Niall ran up behind and pulled me into a hug.

I grinned and laughed.

"You're weird." I smiled at the Irish boy.

"It's just love. Young love." Louis patted Niall's shoulder affectionately.

"Oh, yes. I can see it between you two." I grinned and retaliated but a little blush crept up into my cheeks.

Louis grinned and Niall just rolled his eyes.

"So, are we playing Mario Kart or what?" I asked, still confused as to why I'd been brought here.

"Hey!" Harry bounded into the room and threw his arms around Louis but looked at me.

"Ready to lose at Mario Kart?" I rocked back and forth on my heels.

"I don't feel like playing Mario Kart anymore." Harry sighed.

"Oh, but Harry, you might have actually made it to higher than twelfth place this time." I smirked.

"For your information, I was in tenth the last time I played." he glared at me.

"Good job." I grinned.

"What shall we do then?" Louis asked as he checked his phone.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Oh, where's Zayn?"

"He's getting ready for some interview." Liam answered.

"The boy takes at least an hour and a half to get ready."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, back to what we're doing. What _are_ we doing?" I repeated Lou's question.

"I think we should watch a movie." Liam said.

"Or we could get something to eat." Niall said.

"I think we should.. go shopping." I said.

"Where?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. There's got to be a mall or something around here." I shrugged, but realized that everyone probably knew we were here.

We were currently in Atlanta, Georgia.

"I vote food." Niall raised his hand.

"I vote getting food and then watching a movie." Liam raised his hand too.

"I like Liam's idea." I said.

"Me too." Louis and Harry said in unison.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you all want to go to McDonald's, of all places." I mumbled as I stopped at an intersection.<p>

"What about that place?" I asked, pointing to a cozy looking diner.

"Oh, yeah!" Louis said beside me.

No one in the back protested so I pulled into their parking lot.

We got out of the car and walked into the diner, where they seated us in a booth.

Harry and Louis sat in a booth, with Liam, Niall and I across from them.

We all ordered cheese burgers and a couple orders of fries.

"This is my new favorite restaurant." I said as I ate one of the fries.

"Alex, can you get up? I need to go get a few more napkins." Niall said.

"Oh, sure." I said. I got up and he walked over the the counter.

We talked for a few minutes about the tour and everything, and then I got up again when Niall came back.

"Where are your napkins?" I asked as he sat back down, empty handed.

"Oh, they..were out." he said awkwardly.

I raised my eyebrows at him but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Hmm, okay."

We discussed what movie we'd watch when we got home, and despite much protesting for a animated movie from Liam and I, Louis, Niall, and Harry decided we'd watch some horror movie.

"Please you guys?" Niall begged.

"Fine, if you'll just shut up." I nudged him in the ribs lightly.

Our waitress came to clear our stuff up and then walked away.

I waited for her to return with our bill but she just hovered by the counter.

"Um, I'll be right back you guys." I said after waiting for ten minutes.

"Excuse me miss." I said to the woman at the counter.

"Yes?"

"Uh, you never brought our check over." I said calmly.

"Oh, that young man took care of it already." she pointed to our table.

"Which one?" I asked.

"The blonde." she said as she scrubbed at the counter.

"Right, thanks." I said and smiled.

"Niall. Why did you pay already?" I asked as I sat back down.

"Aw, thanks mate." Liam smiled before Niall could answer. "We owe you."

"I could have payed." I said.

"Nope." he grinned at me, clearly realizing how annoyed I was that he'd payed.

"I hate you." I leaned on my chin.

"That's why we're watching a horror movie." he smirked at me.

I grumbled and got out of the booth, following Harry and Louis who had already gotten up.

"Hey!" a girl said behind me. "You're Alex Barren!" she squealed.

"Oh, yeah. Do you want a picture?" I asked her, smiling.

"Yeah." she grinned.

"Maria, can you take our picture?" she called to her friend who took her camera.

I stood beside the girl who looked about 15.

"Thanks." she grinned, her friend standing beside her.

"No problem." I grinned and noticed Niall was waiting a step or two behind me.

The girl's friend, Maria, was staring at him as if she'd just got hit by a bus.

"Do you want a picture with him?" I asked her, laughing.

She slowly nodded and Niall grinned at me.

I took their picture and the girl I'd shared a picture with smiled at me.

"She's a huge fan of theirs. Are you two dating?"

"Um, well, I mean.." I said as I handed the phone back to Maria.

Niall had clearly overheard because he looked just as blush-y as I probably did.

"Not yet." Niall smiled a tiny bit and the girls giggled.

"Well, you'd make a super cute couple."

"Um, thank you?" I raised my eyebrows.

We walked out of the diner and made our way to the car.

* * *

><p>"Why on earth did we have to watch that?" I asked as the credits of the movie began to roll on the screen.<p>

"It was so good. You didn't like it?" Harry asked.

"Are you kidding me? I nearly peed my pants like four times." I answered.

"That's disgusting." Louis scrunched up his nose.

I giggled and got up.

"I'm going to bed before a guy with an actual chainsaw cuts open my stomach and eats my intestines." I held my stomach.

"Okay, see ya tomorrow!" Liam shouted from the kitchen.

"Bye!" Louis and Harry said in unison.

"See ya." Niall gave me a quick wave and a flash of a smile.

I walked back to my hotel room, looking behind me every so often for signs of a serial killer.

* * *

><p>"One. More. Day." Lindsey had left me the message earlier in the morning.<p>

I giggled and put my phone in my pocket and grabbed my bag. We had just had a great rehearsal and I was about to leave.

"Alex!" Niall ran up behind me. They had a five minute break and then their separate rehearsal.

"Yeah?" I asked, throwing my bag over my shoulder.

I looked behind him and saw Zayn, Louis, and Harry a few feet behind him.

"I was wondering if you would want to get lunch or something tomorrow, after the concert?" he looked at the ground and then met my eyes.

I felt a bit bad. "I'm sorry. I already have plans for lunch."

"Oh," he said. "Okay."

"But listen, maybe I can see if you can come too." I blurted out.

"It's alright. You don't have-" he began, but I saw a slight flicker of a smile.

"It's just my sister. She'd love to meet you anyways. You're the perfect representative for...them." I pointed to the other boys who were trying to see who appeared to be putting marshmallows in their shoes.

"Alright." he laughed and I held back my own giggles.

"I'll see you tomorrow at lunch then probably." I waved and headed off to my hotel for a much-needed nap.

* * *

><p>"Alex!" Rena pounced on me as soon as we'd set foot in the restaurant. It was a small Chinese place that Rena and I'd always gone to as kids. It was sort of our spot now, and we'd always go to it when we got together.<p>

It was hard to believe that I was back in Baltimore after so many months.

"Hey!" I hugged her.

"This is Niall." I gestured to the blonde-haired boy who stood beside me.

"Nice to meet you. Hope I didn't scare you too much on the phone." she grinned at him.

"Only a little." he smiled back.

Rena took the lead and sat us at a small square table for four.

"You two look a lot alike." Niall said as we sat down.

I looked at Rena and raised my eyebrows. I certainly didn't see it. She had a cute bob dyed a deep golden blonde and she was only about 5'3 while I had long dark brown hair with a few lighter highlights and was taller than her at 5'5. We had about the same color skin, mine only a bit tanner. My face was also dotted with freckles, all along my cheeks and the bridge of my nose, but my sister's was smooth and freckle-less. The only noticeable thing we shared was our brown eyes.

"Everyone always tells us that." Rena smoothed out her hair.

"We don't get it." I said.

A waiter came to take our order right as we began talking about the tour.

"So, how's it been?'' Rena asked as she handed the waiter our menus.

"Really good." I said and Niall nodded in agreement.

"Nothing bad's happened?" Rena leaned her chin on her hand.

"Nope." I shook my head.

"Well, that's good." she grinned.

"Mhm. How about you? How's work?" I asked. ''Rena's an interior designer." I said to Niall before she could answer.

The waiter brought back our drinks.

"Really good. I just did some work for this garden-obsessed woman. She wanted her whole living room to look like a conservatory. I thought it'd look horrible, but it turned out to look amazing."

"That sounds cool." I grinned and sipped on my coke.

"Mhm." she nodded. "So, Niall, tell me about yourself."

Niall shifted in his seat. "Um, well, I'm from this place in Ireland called Mullingar. I'm in One Direction.."

I laughed. "He's trying, he really is."

Rena smiled at him. "Any brothers or sisters?"

"Oh, I have a brother named Greg." he said, relaxing a bit.

"What about a girlfriend?" Rena asked, clearly enjoying this.

"Nope." Niall said and I watched as he again nervously squirmed in his seat.

"And how'd you become a member of One Direction?" she asked.

"Um, well I auditioned for this show-"

"X-Factor, right?" Rena interrupted. "Now I remember. Alex tried to explain this all to me, like, a year ago, but that's all I remember."

Niall gave me a cute smile and I tried my best not to look too embarrassed.

"Well, we all auditioned separately, but they didn't think that we were good enough apart, so they just put us together into a band." Niall finished.

"Oh yeah!" Rena exclaimed. "I remember now. Alex was totally in love with you all as soon as she heard about you-" Rena stopped talking when I shot her a death glare.

"I mean she wasn't obsessed or anything. She only had a couple pictures of you guys hanging up in her room. Didn't you make a shirt too, Alex?"

"I might have." I mumbled.

"I didn't know you were that big of fan. I thought you just bought the album because we were going on tour together." Niall smiled.

"I sort of became a fan after I heard Viva La Vida." I shrugged.

"That was a fun song to do." Niall nodded.

"Well, it sounds like a lot of fun, being in a band and all." Rena smiled.

Niall nodded. "It is. We're all really good friends."

The waiter brought over our food and we chatted about what was going on in Baltimore at the moment and what we could all do tomorrow on our free day off.

"I think that we should go to the aquarium." I said after I'd finished my sweet-and-sour chicken.

"I think that'd be all cool." Rena agreed. We had gone there as little kids and she knew how much I loved it.

"Do you think everyone would be up for that? Then we could just hang out in the inner harbor area."

"That sounds fun." Niall grinned.

"Cool."

"I'll be right back." Niall said, getting up.

"Don't you dare try to pay." I said.

"I'm just going to the bathroom." he rolled his eyes at me.

"He really, really likes you." Rena whispered after he'd walked away.

"No he doesn't, Re." I said.

I _wish_ he did, but I doubt he did. I mean, sometimes he'd act like he did and after everything that happened when the Meghan chick had visited I had pretty high hopes that he did, but it was probably just a stupid crush. I mean, who could actually, legitimately like me?

"Yes, he does. He's been staring at you, like, the whole time."

"You're crazy. He does not like me as anything more than a friend."

"Yes he does."

"No. He doesn't." I said flatly.

"Mhm."

"Nope."

"Yeah."

"Uh-uh."

"Jeez, Alex. If you don't tell him you like him back he's going to start to think he should give up."

"What? I never even said I like him." I said sharply.

"But you do." Rena grinned, clearly not phased by my tone.

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"Okay, I do." I admitted. No use fighting over this with Rena.

"You should tell him, Alex."

"But what if he doesn't like me back?" I barely got it out.

"He will. I can see it every time he looks at you." she gave me a sweet smile.

Niall walked back over to the table, making a silly face as he passed behind Rena.

Oh gosh.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey dahlings :) So, I hope you like this chapter. I'm so excited to write the next chapter. I've litereally been planning it out for weeks. SO- hopefully I'll update again within the next three days? Yesss, hopefully :) If not, have a great weekend. Tell your fathers you love them, okay? Love you all :D<strong>

**xoxo**

**Alex**


	14. Baltimore

"Don't even think about it." Ashley said as I picked up my phone to call Zayn.

"But-" I began.

"No." Ashley murmured.

"Fine." I grumbled.

"Guys," I said as I lay down on my pillow. "I think I'm going to get some sleep."

"Night." Brianna said as she walked into Lindsey's room with a new can of Pepsi.

"Night." I said back and fell asleep in minutes.

* * *

><p>"Wakey-wakey." Lindsey, and my other best friend, Brianna shook me awake.<p>

"You guys are horrible." I smiled as I pulled myself out of my sleeping bag.

"Ready for a day in inner harbor with the hottest boy band of the year?" I asked as I walked into the bathroom.

"Mhm." Lindsey grinned.

"Bri, are you bringing Matthew?" I asked about her boyfriend.

"No, he couldn't get out of school." she pouted.

"Aw, sorry boo." I shook my head. I started up the shower and rushed out after five minutes. My was hair dripping wet, but I quickly blow-dried it and then straightened it.

"Oh, I like the outfit." I grinned at Lindsey's white jean capris and blue slouchy top.

"Thanks." she laughed. "What are you wearing?"

"I don't know.." I trailed off. "Maybe, oh, those lime green shorts I brought!"

"With..?" Lindsey asked.

"Um, a peach lace tank top." I grinned.

"And wedges." Ashley added as she walked by.

"I have the perfect white ones you could wear." Lindsey said.

"Woo!" I clapped my hands in the air and scrambled the things out of my suitcase then searched Lindsey's closet for her wedges.

"Ooh, looking fine, gurl." Ashley grinned at me.

"Mhm, you too, you foxy thing." I said as I looked at what she was wearing- red high-waisted shorts and a off-white tank top with a bedazzled neckline.

"What about me?" Brianna sprang up behind Ashley.

"Looking good." Ashley grinned at Bri, who was wearing jean shorts and a light pink graphic tee with white ballet flats.

"You all ready to go then?" I asked Ashley and Bri. They nodded. "Lindsey, we're leaving!" I shouted.

"Okay, wait for me!" Lindsey ran down to the door where we were all waiting and grabbed her purse.

"We're taking the light rail, yes?" I asked as we walked out the door.

"Mhm." Ashley nodded.

"Okay." I said.

We walked to the closest light rail station and got off at Camden Yards, the place we promised to meet the boys at.

We waited about 15 minutes outside of Camden Yards and eventually a big, black SUV pulled up.

"Sorry, we had a bit of trouble finding our way here." Zayn said as they all got out.

"It's fine." Ashley grinned. I could tell she had missed hanging out with him and his grin back at her showed that he'd felt the same way.

"You guys ready to see basically everything Baltimore's known for?" I grinned.

"Yep!" Louis shouted.

"Alright, where are we going first then?" Brianna asked.

"Aquarium for a couple of hours? And then we could get some lunch." I said hopefully.

Everyone seemed pleased with this idea so we walked down to the aquarium, which was right beside the harbor.

After we'd bought our tickets and went inside I suggested that we split up into pairs or groups.

"It might be a good idea if you're with someone who knows their way around. Unless you're handy with a map, of course."

"I'll be with Lindsey." Harry winked at Lindsey.

"Louis, want to be my buddy?" Brianna asked. "Sure." Louis smiled. They were like two peas in a pod, with the same high energy levels.

"Ashley and I can be together. Unless you wanted to be with Alex." Zayn smiled at Ashley.

"Nah, you're way cooler than her, anyways." Ashley grinned.

"And Niall and I can be buddies." Liam smiled at Niall.

"But Alex's all alone." Brianna said.

"That's alright." I smiled. "I know my way around pretty well."

"Sure you don't want to be in our group." Niall raised his eyebrows at me.

"Positive. Just call me if you get lost." I laughed.

"Will do." Liam smiled.

After everyone got maps we headed off in our different directions.

I went first to the dolphin exhibit and then made my way around to the stingrays and, um, other types of rays.

I had just walked into the rain forest exhibit that was pretty huge and stretched on for quite a bit when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"I've lost Ashley." Zayn said as I turned around.

I laughed.

"It's not funny." he grinned.

"Yes, it sort of is. Where you up here when it happened?" I asked him.

"Yeah, right over there." he pointed to a spot where a few trees hung lows and some monkeys climbed around.

I squinted to see if Ashley was anywhere around.

"I don't see her. Just a second, I can text her. Don't you have her number?" I ask as I pull my phone out of my pocket.

"Yeah, but I don't want her to think I'm desperate or anything." he mumbled.

"Too late." I grinned and received and unhappy glare from Zayn.

On the third ring Ashley picked up.

"Hey, where are you?" I asked, turning to look at a flower behind me.

"By the fish fossils." she said.

"Okay, thanks."

"Why?"

"Uh, Zayn got separated from you." I laughed.

"Yeah, I noticed." she giggled.

"He's by the monkeys, you know, across from that huge lizard?" I gave her our whereabouts.

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Alright. See you!" I hung up.

"She's on her way over." I grinned.

"Thanks." Zayn smiled back.

"Do you want me to stick around or..?"

"No, you can leave." he waved me off.

"Cool, bye!" I waved and walked through the exhibit, stopping to look at all the interesting and weird creatures.

I looked at my watch as I was walking out of the jellyfish room a while later and noticed how close to lunchtime it was.

I only had time to go to about two more places.

I decided to go look at the sharks because they kind of freaked me out, but it was a good kind of freaky.

As I walked down the oval-shaped ramps that fell beside the shark tanks I got a tingly feeling in my stomach, like one of the sharks might bust out of the thick glass and eat me.

No one else was around as I stared at the huge monsters, the blue and purple lights creating an ominous feeling.

"Hey."

I jumped and turned.

"Oh, hi." I smiled at Niall.

"Have you been following me?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"No, I just saw you up there." he pointed up to the higher levels of ramps, where it was quite easy to look down on the people below you.

I grinned. "Good, cause that'd be a bit creepy if you were."

He chuckled and moved to stand beside me.

I took a breath in as I realized just how close he was standing to me. Our shoulders were nearly touching.

So, did the only thing I could think to do. I took his hand.

He seemed kind of surprised at first but his hand quickly relaxed in mine. I guess it was sort of different because he was usually the one to do something like that.

"So, you like sharks?" he asked curiously.

"Hmm, sort of." I shrugged. "They're cool, but they have freaky smiles."

"Like me." he made an exaggerated grin that was too cute for words.

I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding. "I think you have a beautiful smile."

His grin fell a bit until it was just a small smile, a bit questioning.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah."

We stared at each other for a few seconds and I realized how gorgeous he was, with his simple khaki shorts and a white graphic tee shirt, and his messy, short blonde hair, and those amazing blue eyes.

He let out another small smile and then pressed his lips against mine, his free hand taking my other hand in his.

I had been continuously hoping that either Niall would tell me that he had feelings for me or that the ones I had for him would simply die away ..

I was hoping that this was a pretty good indication that he liked me. If not, I was horrible at reading boys actions.

"Niall, are you down there?" Liam called up above.

Niall pulled away and let go of my hands.

He turned away for a second and called up to Liam. "Yeah!"

I smiled as he looked at me again and once he caught sight of my smile his whole face lit up like the fourth of July*.

"It's a pretty good thing he didn't see us." Niall grinned at me.

"That would be a bit awkward." I shrugged and laughed.

"Yeah, just a bit."

"Hey, you guys ready to get lunch?" Liam asked when he finally made it down to our level.

"Sure." I nodded, butterflies still swarming in my stomach.

* * *

><p>"He what?" Lindsey screamed at me in the bathroom of the restaurant we were in.<p>

"I knew he had a thing for you." Brianna grinned.

"It's not that big of a deal." I rolled my eyes but the smile on my lips had been there for over thirty minutes and it seemed to have no plans of leaving.

"Oh, Alex. You have to tell him that you like him before it's too late." Ashley smiled at me.

"But-" I began.

"No buts." Lindsey shook her head.

"You're going to march right out there and confess your undying love for him." Brianna said bluntly.

"Um, wait, my what?" I grinned and we all began to laugh.

"No, but seriously, you need to tell him soon. You guys could be, you know, a thing. An item. A couple. Dos. Two peeps." Brianna continued.

"I get the idea, Bri." I smiled.

"I think what she's trying to say is-" Lindsey began.

"That Niall clearly likes you," Ashley picked up where Lindsey'd paused.

"And you have to tell him you like him back." Brianna finished.

Jeez, it's like they'd rehearsed this.

"I don't know you guys. Maybe. I'll try to tell him soon." I said.

They all sighed and shook their heads at me which caused me to let out a few more nervous giggles.

* * *

><p>"We could go to Federal Hill." I suggested after we'd gotten lunch.<p>

"Oh, we could take a water taxi over." Brianna jumped up and down.

I pointed at her. "Yes."

"What's over there?" Harry asked, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand.

I shrugged. "Not too much. It's just a nice place to sit and take photos."

"I vote for, um, what's it called again?" Louis asked.

"Federal Hill." Lindsey said.

"I vote for that!"

"Me too." Liam squinted in the sun.

"Me as well." I said, raising my hand.

"Me four!" Brianna grinned.

"Can we get ice cream after we go?" Ashley asked hopefully.

'Well, duh." I rolled my eyes playfully.

"Then I'm in." she smiled.

So, we ended up taking a water taxi over to Federal Hill and then we had to climb the endless amount of stairs to get to the top of it.

"I'm starting to rethink this idea." I said to Lindsey as I took a couple of slow steps.

We finally made it to the top, all of us sighing and taking deep breathes for a few minutes.

We settled down on a spot of grass by the edge, where it overlooked the harbor.

Brianna set to work french braiding my hair and Liam talked to me for a few minutes before getting up to play tag with Lindsey, Louis, and Harry. Niall got up and reclaimed Liam's spot.

Brianna quickly fastened the end of my braid and threw it over my shoulder. "I think I'll go play tag too." she grinned at me. "Have fun talking." she flashed another grin at Niall, who looked at me suspiciously.

"Sorry, she's a bit crazy." I laughed shyly.

"She seems nice, though." he grinned.

"Yeah, she's a good kid." I looked over at Bri, who was dancing with Lindsey and trying her best not to get tagged.

"Um, about earlier, I just wanted to tell you.." I began, focusing all of my eye contact with the bright green grass I was sitting on.

"Please don't tell me you just want to be friends." Niall half-whispered, half-laughed, but I could hear the apprehension in his voice.

My head shot up and I smiled. "No, quite the opposite."

"Oh, thank goodness." he grinned at me.

I quickly pecked his cheek and then leaned back to admire his eyes for the billionth time that day.

* * *

><p><strong>Guess who updated tonight? This girl :D So, as I mentioned in my previous chapter, I've literally been DYING to write this chapter, and here it is and I can't be happier with it. So, please let me know what you thought of it and all that lovely junk :)<br>**

**So I found the idea for Alex's outfit on polyvore so if you're interested, check it out :)**

** /sweet_love/set?id=49102996**


	15. Announcement

**Hey guys...**

**So, I'm really sorry for not posting in forever. Trust me, I haven't forgotten about you!**

**So, I had a bad case of writer's block after the last chapter & then I just got busy with summer, and then I got busy with school (my first year of high school, so it was kinda hectic.) but I'm getting into the swing of things, and I'd like to get back to this story.**

**I'm just interested to see if you guys actually WANT me to continue this story. I mean, I'd love to continue it, so if you'd read it if I kept it going please let me know! And I'm so sorry for being away for so long :(**

**xoxo**

**Alex**

**P.S. AND HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS. 3,696 views? I never imagined that would happen! Thank you so much for all of you who have been reading!**


	16. Hot Orange Sunglasses

I had been unsure about whether or not I'd even be able to make it back to my cab alive, that's how tightly Lindsey, Ashley, and Brianna were hugging me.

"Guys, I, um, sort of have to go." I had mumbled.

"But we'll be so lonely." Briana had said.

"Don't worry, I'll call and video chat with you guys all the time." I wiggled out of the hug.

"Promise?" Ashley grinned lightly.

"Promise." I had smiled back and after a small wave, got into the cab and headed to my hotel in D.C.

* * *

><p>The next week was all sort of a jumbled up mess. A good jumbled up mess, though.<p>

Whenever we'd be getting ready for a concert Niall would smile or give me a cute wave.

It was kind of the most adorable thing in the world.

We were leaving for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in two SUV's when he snuck up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hey." I giggled as I turned around to face him.

"Hi." he laughed.

"Ready for Philadelphia?" I turned to face him.

"Mhm." he grinned.

"Good." I smiled

"We should probably-"

"Go?" I finished his sentence. "Yeah, that might be helpful, huh?"

I got into the black Hummer and sat in the back, since Harry and Louis were already in the middle seats.

I sat in the seat next to the window and Niall climbed in beside me.

All of us were pretty psyched for today. We were going to Philadelphia for the next three days and I was really excited. I'd only been to Philadelphia once in my life, but I'd loved it when I was there.

"So, Alex, have you been to Philadelphia before?" Louis asked as I pulled out my iPhone.

"Yes," I smiled.

He looked back at me."What's it like?"

"Really beautiful. I mean, it's so artsy and wonderful." I sighed happily.

"You're so mushy." Harry pushed his curly hair out of his face.

"Whatever. I've only been there once but it was nice." I laughed.

Apparently Zayn and Liam were riding in the other Hummer. I played games on my phone the ride there, while talking to Niall and Harry and listening to Louis tell ridiculously bad/amusing jokes.

"So," Louis began as we all unbuckled our seat belts to get out, "Where's the best place to get lunch?"

"Hmm," I paused. "I don't know. We'll all have to figure that out."

He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"What?" I laughed.

"Useless." he shook his head and ran ahead, with Harry sprinting to catch up with him.

"He's crazy." I grinned.

"Oh, and you aren't?" Niall nudged me, a smile on his face.

"Woah, woah. I never said that." I smiled.

We both turned as the tires of the other Hummer screeched to a hault.

Liam gave us a friendly grin as he got out.

"Hello." I smiled as Zayn got out after Liam and they walked with us into the Philadelphia Theater, where we were performing.

"Hi." they said at the same time.

We walked through the doors, only to find a couple of security guards trying to break up a dance off between Louis and Harry.

* * *

><p>The sound check and concert went extremely well, and the crowd was amazing.<p>

As soon as we finished the concert, everyone wanted to go and get lunch.

"Where should we go?" Liam asked as we all walked down the busy streets of Philadelphia.

"Ooh, that place looks cool." Louis pointed to a burger joint across the street.

Everyone thought it'd be a nice place to check out so we crossed the street and walked in.

"Aw, it's so cute in here." I smiled at the cute little place.

Little black and white tiles lined the wall, and the tables were shades of bright pink and green.

"Let's sit over here, you guys." Zayn lead us all over to a big bright green table in a corner close to the back of the restaurant.

I somehow got squished in between Louis and Niall.

A middle-aged woman bounced over with some menus and promised to be back in "Under five minutes or less, honey."

"What are you getting?" Niall elbowed me after a few minutes of looking over the menu.

"A cheeseburger, obviously." I rolled my eyes teasingly. "What are you getting?"

"Probably the same." He nodded.

"Jeez, always copying me." I grinned.

"Well, duh. You're _obviously_ the coolest person I've ever met." He flashed a grin back.

"Aw, they're so in love." Louis smiled wistfully. "You guys can kiss now, no one will look."

Niall and I exchanged an awkward glance, but the waitress walked back just in time to save us from an uncomfortable moment.

"What will you have?" She asked, her orange hair swaying back and forth each time she moved.

We all gave her our orders and then handed her our menus and watched as she walked away.

"She has quite a head of hair." Harry remarked once she was out of listening-range.

"Mmm, sounds like Hazza has a crush." Louis grinned.

"Oh, yeah." Harry nodded. "I'm into the older women, if you know what I mean."

"I'll mention that to Lindsey the next time I text her." I grinned.

He shot me a fake glare and shook his head.

"Oh by the way, I heard that 40 is the new sexy." I added, almost making Louis spit out the sip of diet coke he had just taken.

Harry rolled his eyes and tried not to smile.

After a few more...interesting conversations, Harry's lover (nicknamed by Louis, obviously), came back with our food.

All of us were trying to hold in our laughter as she handed Harry his order of a plain burger.

She gave us a nervous smile and then walked away. I collapsed into a fit of laughter.

"Did she wink at you, Harry?" Niall asked.

"Oh, yeah. I definitely saw that, too." Liam grinned.

"She wants you, man." Zayn grinned at Harry, who sat there, a slight pink in his cheeks and a grin on his lips.

"Guys, guys stop. She's clearly only going to use Harry and then dump him for the cook." I pointed to the crusty man who stood behind the counter flipping patties.

"You guys are right. I'm totally out of her league." Harry shook his curls in mock despair, which only led everyone into another round of laughter.

Everyone chatted a little bit while we ate our lunch.

"Can I have a frie?" I asked Niall, who had also ordered a basket of them along with his cheeseburger.

"Hmm..." He sat there, with a contemplating look on his face.

"Please?" I batted my eyelashes and gave the sweetest smile I could.

He sighed and grinned. "Fine."

"Thank you!" I smiled and took three fries.

"Hey, you only said one." He looked at me.

"Yes, but I meant three." I grinned and he just grinned back.

"Um, before I vomit from these two.." Louis gestured towards Niall and I who were hopelessly staring at each other, trying not to laugh. "Would you guys all like to go out and look around?"

"We should go to an outdoor market." I suggested.

Everyone thought that sounded fun, so after we paid the bill, I searched for outdoor markets in Philly on my phone. Sure enough, like five results close by appeared.

"We just have to walk a few blocks and then we'll be there." I told everyone.

* * *

><p>"Alex and I are going to look around for a bit." Niall said after we arrived at the outdoor market.<p>

"Mkay." Louis winked at us, and Liam smiled nicely.

I rolled my eyes, but followed Niall whose cheeks were slightly pink.

"Where do you want to go first?" I asked him.

"I don't care. It's up to you." He slipped his hand into mine.

"Well, I don't really care either. Maybe we should just walk around until we see something we want to look at." I never really got use to the butterflies I got when he would hold my hand.

"Okay." He smiled.

We walked down a path full of street vendors, all trying to get us to buy what they were selling. One stand caught my eye.

"Hey, let's stop here." I pulled him over to the tables.

I picked up one of what looked like a billion pairs of sunglasses and tried them on.

"What do you think?" I grinned.

"I like them." Niall smiled.

"Me too." I took off the silver ones that I'd just been wearing. "Now, we just have to find a pair for you."

I searched for a pair for Niall. They would all look adorable on him, that was the problem.

"Oh, these." I slipped them onto his face, rather awkwardly, and we both let out some giggles.

"Mhm. Those are some pretty hot orange sunglasses." I grinned at him.

"Oh jeez, Alex, I'm blushing." He grinned at me.

"You should get them." I smiled.

"Yeah?" He asked, taking them off and looking at me with his beautiful blue eyes.

"Yeah." I said.

We paid for the sunglasses, which would actually come in handy, because we'd seen some people staring at us earlier.

And after all, the eyes are the window to the soul. At least that's what the vendor had said.

"That was a little weird." I said as we walked away from the man.

"Maybe he's trying to say that since people can't see our eyes, we have no souls." Niall smiled at me.

"Oh, yeah, that must be it." I laughed.

* * *

><p>After we walked around for a few more hours, we met up with the other boys.<p>

We all got something to eat from one of the vendors and after sitting down on the sidewalk nearby to eat, Harry proposed we go to a club.

"I'm not sure. I'm not really a clubbing person." I confessed.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun." Harry grinned.

"It's fine, guys. I don't want to go either." Niall shrugged.

"I was actually hoping maybe we could take a walk instead." He took my hand and I nodded and smiled.

He was too perfect.

* * *

><p><strong>OH HAI.<strong>

**So, I finallyyyyy updated. And I know it's a bit shorter than my usual stuff, but I just wanted to update, so here you go, babycakes!**

**I hope you guys still like it, and reviews are super helpful and appreciated, so if you have time, please review :)**

**xoxo**

**Alex**


	17. UPDATE

**Hey you guys! Ahhh, another update! So my story was reported a couple of months ago, and although it hasn't been taken down yet (like omg, fanfiction reporters are total bs. This was literally reported at least like three months ago -_- ) I don't want to risk it, so I've decided to continue the story on wattpad (: I haven't posted a new chapter on there yet, but all the old chapters are on there, and I will be posting a new one asap! **

**link to the wattpad story~ story/2536443-everything-about-you**

**side note: I'd just like to thank some of the readers who have literally been here from the beginning. I started this story about a year ago, and I know I haven't been amazing at updating it, but you honestly have kept me going (: You guys have gotten this story where it is and without you I probably wouldn't have continued it :) it means a lot. I love guyssss :D**


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